Naruto: Makes No Difference
by NitrogenFixation
Summary: AU. Naruto needed a family, and Kakashi gave him one -- while the pain may never go away, the bonds that they have are what hold them up in the end.
1. Prologue: Fortitude

**Prologue - Fortitude**

He was running again. He didn't know where to. Where could he go? He had no one to run to, no where to hide. It hurt, and his courage to face the world was fading fast. Fortitude - that was what he needed. Indeed, as the short, wild-haired blond bolted swiftly down the streets of Konoha, he saw no one willing to help him – and, as he wove through alleyways in an attempt to get away from the two broad-shouldered men chasing him, he realized that no one would care if he died.

He remembered when they first found out he wouldn't retaliate - the attacks had been subtle and cautious at first. He only remembered the ones around his second birthday getting more intense - _when he was learning to walk_. It was an insane man who had been plotting revenge against the "monster child" - Naruto never knew quite what was going on, but the man brought a club to his head and he simply curled up to attempt to avoid being battered to a pulp.

His caretaker had been _supposed_ to protect him, _supposed_ to keep him alive, but he didn't know this. A child of three such as the tiny boy in ratty clothing only knew what the world elected to show them, and thus far, the blond had seen only cruelty, except perhaps from a few. The world had shown him its deaf ear and blind eye as shadows cut and scratched him, never caught by those supposed to catch them; the world had shown him its uncaring hand, brushing him off, hurting him to get him away, _anything_ against the boy who had done no true wrong against them. He dared not enter the streets when the daylight ought to guard him, fearful of the bustling crowds of people, shoving and pushing and very nearly trampling him; by night he tended to himself, scrounging for food to compensate for the hole left in his stomach despite the little food the orphanage could afford to give him.

The little blond halted in a darkish alley, lit only by the half-moon and the streetlight somewhere beyond its mouth. He hid himself as carefully as he could beside a large green dumpster, though he figured they would find him anyway. They always did. Even now, one year later, the young boy was unable to escape - no matter how fast or how strong he became, the silent shadows that struck out at him were always faster or stronger. Indeed, they found him, hauling him up by the scruff of his shirt. One, the bigger one, jeered as the smaller one shook him violently and dropped him. "Are you scared, _rat_?" the small shadow-man hissed, pulling out a sharp object and holding it to the boy's cheek, tracing the already-present whisker marks. Naruto whimpered and tried to pull away, but the man reached back and grabbed his hair, twisting it, and the tiny boy let out a sob of pain as the kunai pressed into his skin enough to bleed rapidly. The shadow-man grinned a cruel grin that twisted into a sneer as tears swelled in the boy's eyes and ran down his cheeks, mingling with blood. "Don't worry, we won't kill you..._yet_..." This was no comfort to the boy, who hardly comprehended the words, so little was his education in the terms of men. _"You'll hurt, first,"_ he finished, and brought down his kunai clear through the boy's right hand until the tip dug into the ground.

Naruto _screamed_.

The pain overtook his mind, blocking out all else. A boot to his stomach, a cut across his arm, his shin, his thigh; a hand across his throat, one lifting him and the other using him as a glorified punching bag; dropping him to the ground, a terrible, sharp pain in his side and a disgusting, fleshy _crunch_. Slow steam drifted from every cut, the wounds closing just enough for the boy to remain alive; his veins and marrow seemed to burn as he felt his system in overdrive, producing blood to replenish.

He knew nothing but the pain.

Then there was a brief silence, and he cracked open an eye to observe the shadow-men hazily rocking left and right. It made him feel dizzy. He closed his eye as one whispered, "Someone's coming..." A moment of silence passed, and then there was an angry yell, and the sound of quiet footfalls retreating.

His stomach lurched as a gentle hand began to lift him; he felt bile rise in his throat and emerge, and he choked for a moment on the vomit before hazy blackness became his only reality.

* * *

Not once had the name "Uzumaki Naruto" crossed his mind within the past year and a half - he had all but forgotten the young blond, burying the name down with the rest of painful reminders and memories. It had taken a lot of emotional endurance, to be able to see his sensei's son almost daily for the first year. Six months, it took, for him to get out of the habit of checking up on the blue-eyed child.

Hatake Kakashi had just been released from the hospital. He'd returned from a dangerous A-rank mission with Asuma and a young Hyuuga named Taizen. Kakashi had been severely injured on his left shoulder, and stabbed/slashed with a sword multiple times in the abdomen. He still had a slight limp from spraining his ankle, then pulling a muscle while trying to keep up on his own with the two Jounin.

As the silver-haired man began to walk out the door, an ANBU approached it. Politely, Kakashi held it open, recognizing the ANBU as Raccoon...or was it Badger? (Kakashi had never been very good at deciphering the two.) He saw, surprisingly, that the man was holding a child. Blond hair poofed up, spiky regardless of gravity, with three thin whisker marks on either cheek, four of them slowly coagulating from recent cuts traced over what he knew were pre-existing marks that identified him as one Uzumaki Naruto. What caught Kakashi's eye, though, was when the child opened his eyes briefly, stirring slightly but not waking, and locked eyes with him. The eyes were deeper and more vivid their color than ten seas atop of each other. The eyes that Kakashi would never, ever forget, so similar to the boy's father's with a touch of childish innocence. The eyes of Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

Naruto blinked softly, lifting his eyes to the shockingly white light over him. He didn't know where he was, but everything smelled like sanitizer. To him, with his keen sense of smell, it was magnified times a thousand - or, so it seemed to him, as he groaned and lifted his hand to cover his nose.

He didn't consciously take in his surroundings. He glanced over it with a dull, uncritical eye, only noting the large, somewhat blurry dark shape at his bedside. His vision cleared slightly, and he recognized his "Baachan". Naruto had stayed in the hospital multiple times, due to things like plants "accidentally" falling on his head and knocking him out for two days. She was always the one to heal him, and he didn't know why, but as soon as he learned the term, she became his "Baachan".

As if on cue, his Baachan, a blond-haired woman with golden-brown eyes, looked up from the green glow emitting from her hands. "Baachan!" Naruto exclaimed happily, smiling along with the greeting. He knew no other word to greet her with, but the single term was enough for her to recognize the happiness at seeing her.

The older blond laughed in response. "Hello, Naruto," she answered, good-naturedly. At that moment, the door slid open, revealing an elderly man with a serious face and a spiky head of white hair, two red lines running from the edges of his eyes to his chin.

"Tsunade, you almost done healing him? Sensei wants to see us. Something about the kid's caretaker."

"I'll be there, Jiraiya." Tsunade threw him a glance before returning to said kid. Jiraiya simply nodded, and left.

* * *

All the way home, Kakashi felt terrible. He felt sick - he may as well have stabbed the boy himself for all the watching he did over him. Overwhelming guilt swelled and churned his stomach, weighed on his chest, a burden far heavier than the weight of the world. Old memories were stirring up, most of which might have left him almost in tears had old habits not died hard, or at least deep in thought, exploring the darkest caverns of his mind where shadows and phantoms of memories lurked.

_What would you do?_ he wondered, tentatively lifting his hand to run his fingertips over the name that had for so long been graven into the memorial marker, the closest thing to a gravestone that many ninja received. He flattened his hand against the cool stone, allowing himself to draw a little comfort from his nearest and dearest friend. He listlessly turned his head to the sky, where dark stormclouds hovered low, ominously the color of dark ash. A soft, slow breeze breathed over the grass, and he closed his visible eye, feeling more than a little weary. The life of a shinobi had calloused his hands and turned his heart from a jagged stone to a steel blade, but it had also worn out his mind. It had aged him in ways that he dared not confess to even himself, for the mind of a man was not made to see so much as he had.

And now..._this_.

He lifted his hand from the stone and wandered with listless, mindless steps. His thoughts strayed back to the image that had stubbornly latched itself onto him - blood, still steadily flowing from an open wound, dripping down pale skin; a once-white shirt colored red with blood; bruises on the throat; _innocent, blue eyes, begging for help..._

"Kakashi?"

The ANBU captain lifted his eyes from nothing in particular to focus on the dark-haired man who had just fallen into step beside him. Sarutobi Asuma stared back, looking curious, if a little cautious. Asuma was, admittedly, one of his closest comrades; the slightly older man had struck up a close comradeship with him on their first mission together. Asuma had been a particularly tolerable companion, and, after a little while and several missions, a friend and confidante over the years. Once upon a time ago, Kakashi might have turned him away, and even still wanted to - desperately wanted to. _A shinobi should be able to handle his own problems, let alone a mission._ The issue that plagued him now, however, called for the seeking of an outside opinion - one that might actually be able to advise him.

"It seems that Uzumaki Naruto is suffering severe wounds," Kakashi told him formally. Friendship or no, it was with great trepidation that Kakashi approached the subject, and therefore, great formality. It was his safety mechanism, his first and only line of defense when dealing with an issue such as this one. There was a sharp intake of breath from his left side.

"How severe?" was the cautious question that followed.

"Any other child would have died." There was a brief, though weighty, silence before Asuma spoke again.

"How did this...come to your attention?" The question seemed rather irrelevant at first, but Kakashi knew that there was sense in it - had he, himself, discovered the child...well, heads would roll.

"I saw him being taken to the hospital by an ANBU." At this, Asuma tilted back his head slightly to observe the clouds breaking to show a narrow slit of black sky on the horizon, broken apart by high-rising peaks to the north.

Kakashi wanted to ask what he was thinking, but more than that, what he should do. This guilt was suffocating, as thick in his lungs as the humid air that he breathed, thicker than water, as thick as _blood_. He couldn't - he _couldn't_ live with it, couldn't bear the weight of shame and fear and guilt resting solidly on his shoulders, couldn't carry the binding chain around his heart, he couldn't _take_ that.

But he said nothing.

"I will...monitor the boy's healing." He almost held his breath as the pause filled the space between them again. "Alright then. See you, Kakashi." There. His chance was gone. The chain felt heavier than before. Asuma, though hesitantly, disappeared in a plume of smoke.

* * *

Umino Iruka paced the floor of the Hokage's office rapidly. His heavy, thumping footfalls were the only notable sound in the room, and he was doubtless wearing out the carpet.

His admission to the office had been reluctant, but he'd persistently barked at the secretary that he _had_ to see the Hokage, that no, he would_ not_ wait until a little later, and that he did not _care_ if the Hokage was in an important meeting, this was _more_ important, no matter just what the meeting was about. This lasted all of ten minutes until the huge oak door opened, and a weary-eyed Hokage smiled at the Genin, and told his secretary that it was fine; Iruka was welcome. With these words, the upset Umino had been allowed into the office, doing his best to be respectful to his audience of three as he explained in a furious tone what he had witnessed of the boy whose life he had, doubtless, saved.

And therein lie the issue at hand.

Jiraiya of the Sannin seemed equally up in arms, though a little less open about it; his face was uncharacteristically serious, a frown set firmly on it. Tsunade looked hardened as she stared at the wall. For his part, Sarutobi felt tired, far too tired to be doing this job. He stood slowly from his chair, his slower, lighter, less angry footsteps joining the Umino's as the only noise in the room. Aged eyes took in the shadowy clouds overhead, blocking the sun and bearing no visible silver lining. _Somewhere there is one,_ he told himself, but the thought brought little peace, if any, to his troubled mind.

"He needs a caretaker," the Hokage finally rasped, even his tone sounding weary. "A more permanent one than those that he has had in the past - a guardian to protect him."

"A _ninja?_" Tsunade deduced. "Is there anyone trustworthy to take care of him?" Her tone sounded a little bitter in its undertones, though on the surface it seemed completely vacant of a particularly strong emotion. Sarutobi closed his eyes.

"There are a few," he told her, "that I would trust to care for him." Granted, they were few and far between. "He cannot be put into the prominent clans; that would be obvious. Obtrusive, even. ANBU are near constantly kept busy, so few, if any, would have the time to raise a small child. An off-duty Jounin..." He paused and ran over the short list in his mind, then shook his head. Any Jounin who was off-duty was basically retired, almost certainly permanently, due to injuries or mental instability, or getting out while they still could. A ninja's life was generally not a long life. _Putting_ a Jounin out of duty, though... His mind wandered to Asuma, and he mentally rejected the thought; his son, though good-natured and kind, was in no way ready to be a father. His personal feelings may have been clouding his judgment, but Sarutobi scarcely cared at that moment. Asuma was a last resort.

There was a sudden rapping on the door. Sarutobi turned as he called, "Enter!" The oak door opened, revealing one Hatake Kakashi. The Sandaime turned from the window and returned to his desk. "What brings you here tonight, Kakashi?"

The Hatake, to his credit, seemed unfazed at being in the presence of three of the most powerful ninja Konoha had ever produced, along with a seemingly random Genin. "It came to my notice that a ward of the village was attacked and injured sometime within the past four hours," he informed them, his tone staunchly serious and his visible eye hardened, as if he were a soldier marching to war and not the boy that he truly was. _No, he's not a boy,_ Sarutobi realized sadly; _he's a shinobi._ There was a long pause, and it was here that the Hokage recognized that the silence was an expectant one.

"You are correct. He was suffering of severe blood loss when he was brought in, though no wounds were near enough to vital areas to be deadly in that respect." He would've bled out, though, with or without his magic fixer-upper. The thought was unspoken, but Sarutobi had no doubt that it hung in the back of all their minds, a fact that they were each keenly aware of. "Two unidentified men were seen running from the alley in which Naruto was found. This impromptu meeting was convened to choose a guardian to care for the boy." The next pause was punctuated not by stomping feet, but by the low rumble of distant thunder. "Kakashi... Would you be willing to take the boy under your care?" The gap between the question and answer was shorter than expected.

"If I refuse?" questioned Kakashi, sounding for all the world like a robot, except for the guilt and doubt and pain and uncertainty that Sarutobi was willing to bet only he could hear. Iruka's jaw unhinged, doubtless to snap at the skilled nin, but the Hokage interrupted the would-be rant.

"He will almost certainly die."

* * *

**A/N:** Righto... First chapter. Done. Now for the rest...

Vote! What should Naruto call Kakashi

First: Kakashi-sama (I prefer this one, but I'm unsure because you'd think he'd think of Kakashi as family)  
Second: Kakashi-oniisama ("o" at the beginning indicates formality or reverence, like "obaachan" or "ojiichan")  
Third: Otousama (I don't think "tousan" can be used as a suffix, since it indicates "father" and who calls their father by his first name?)  
Fourth: Other (yep, I'm open to suggestions).

That needs decided before I can write (or, at least, post) chapter 3. Maybe 4, if I get more ideas.

Might end up putting up the actual first chapter later. This was sort of to tell how Naruto ended up living with Kakashi, plus I like prologues better than first chapters. XD Before I keep writing for nothing, however, I need to know if my style is any good, if this was somewhat entertaining or if it made you nearly die of boredom. I don't like people urging reviews, but I need to know if it's worth writing or if it sucked. The next entry is much better, though I can't guarantee longer, than this. I also want to amuse myself with how many people will actually read this, so if you read it, then please inform me, because there's no way to tell if someone just opened the page, skimmed it, and then exited because they didn't like it. The hits measure doesn't help. That'll be just for this chapter, though, since I'll find something in later days to entertain myself. Lol. Also, since I like to know when chapters were posted (I think I'm going to calculate my average posting rate for when I get bored) I'm putting the date a chapter was added at the top, under the title, for my own personal amusement. Yes, I go to great lengths to prevent the impending boredom.

- Nitro

_**Revised on 9/1/2010** because Nitro was unhappy with the old thing. Same events, just written a little differently - hopefully better._


	2. Chapter 1: Gone

**Chapter 1 - Gone  
**_Upload date: 9/15/2008_

Kakashi had seen many things in his life. In his years as a Genin, he had found his father, a sword stabbed through his gut. He had overcome that. Then, as a young Jounin, he had been forced to watch his best friend die to save him, someone who did not deserve saving. That pain had resided in him for the longest of times, and even now little could nullify the constant throbbing in his chest, the pain of loss that would linger for all his life. His closest friend and loved one had proceeded to vanish, seemingly from existence. The only trace left of her was memories. His sensei had died in the sealing of the Fox – Kakashi had lost nearly all that was precious to him. Three years later, that pain still was fresh, imprinted into his soul as a permanent scar.

Uzumaki Naruto was not one to stay down when he was knocked down. He always got up whenever he stumbled -- it amazed Kakashi to no end. He'd never seen such persistence or bravery, no matter the condition. Never did the resident blond cry or whine about things -- he smiled too much for any human, babbled in simple words since a three-year-old's vocabulary is rather limited, and followed Kakashi everywhere. The silver-haired Jounin could always picture him with a wagging tail, like a little puppy, but the child also had a thing for mischief.

Naruto had lived with Kakashi for a month, and Kakashi was let off duty for a considerable amount of time to bond with the child. It had taken a week for the child to adapt fully to living with his newly-found legal guardian. After that, Kakashi didn't need to carry him or hold his hand -- Naruto literally followed Kakashi everywhere. He was never more than a foot away from his caretaker in public, though this did not stop him from causing constant mischief like poking at breakables (he learned from his Baachan not to touch them after a firm, long lecture in a store where she happened to be present), bothering employees during their duties (this wouldn't have bothered them if it were any other child), or interrupting conversations with a random, incoherent question. Naruto could talk, but he hadn't socialized very much and therefore did not realize that he couldn't be understood.

Well, all this was out in public -- in Kakashi's home, it was another story.

He was constantly jumping around, getting out excess energy that needed to be spent before his bedtime (Kakashi made him go to bed at 7:00 and Naruto always fell asleep around noontime, considering he always woke his caretaker up at about six in the morning), not to mention pranking Kakashi, like moving his drink to a place he'd never think to look when his back was turned. Kakashi's most often-used items always turned up missing (he swore he was going crazy until he figured out that Naruto had been moving them, not himself), and he had to search the house for them. Being an elite Jounin, he did not expect Naruto's stealth skills to be as they were.

Not to mention that Naruto was a rather rebellious child -- not in the teenage sort of go out and party in the middle of the night way, or other some-such, but he seemed to do the exact opposite of whatever Kakashi said ("Don't touch that, Naruto!" and he touched it; "Get back here, Naruto!" and he did, indeed, come back, but he was agile and was constantly running circles around Kakashi). He trusted Kakashi and never took things too far -- his rebellion usually amused Kakashi, but when his caretaker became very serious or impatient, Naruto would obey. Normally, he only had this attitude when he had much energy that needed to be worked off -- which was quite often -- and when he calmed down he was fairly obedient (not exactly respectful but certainly not disrespectful). Kakashi had to admit, Naruto was fairly well-behaved for an ADHD, dense child, though there seemed to be no end to his energy after his (short) naps. He did touch a hot stove once -- that was within the first week, and learned after that to obey Kakashi when he sounded very serious (surprisingly, Naruto was good at discerning his guardian's moods).

Asuma visited three times during that month. The two had agreed that Asuma would babysit Naruto whenever Kakashi needed to go on missions, so the two needed to get acquainted prior to said baby-sitting sessions. Naruto immediately liked him, which cheered Asuma up quite a bit since he'd been down about Kakashi ruling out his smoking habits. The two had gotten along splendidly. It was at that point that Kakashi realized Asuma would be a perfect father in later days.

Iruka had visited, too. He played with Naruto a bit and talked with Kakashi. After that, they agreed that Iruka would be a secondary option to babysit if Asuma was too busy, and after Asuma left for the Fire Temple. Jiraiya stopped by once, mainly to make sure Naruto was alright at the end of the month.

Surprisingly, Asuma popped up the next day to inform Kakashi that the Hokage "requested his presence immediately". The way he said it made it sound like some type of emergency, so Asuma stayed to babysit Naruto while Kakashi took off to the Hokage Tower.

"Nyeeeeeh!" whined Naruto, alerting Asuma (who was lazing about on the couch) to the ending of his noontime nap. Only moments later, a tired-looking Naruto wandered into the living room, and gave Asuma a big grin that was painfully similar to the Yondaime's. Asuma returned it. Naruto didn't seem to notice Kakashi's absence, though he did recognize Asuma as not being his legal guardian. "Uncle Asuma," was how he addressed his babysitter, with a slight babyish tone to his voice.

He wandered over to the man and climbed onto the couch, much too short to simply plop back onto it. He hugged the big, orange stuffed fox that Kakashi had bought him tightly, it being battered from consistently being hugged, trampled, tossed, clung to, carried, slept on, used as a pillow, and/or tug-o'-war'd, the last being when Kakashi needed Naruto to leave it out of the bath tub. Otherwise, Naruto literally carried it everywhere, so it was no wonder that it was in that condition.

"Hello, Naruto," Asuma said kindly, sitting the boy on his lap with a gruff grin. Naruto was currently nursing a tired eye with his chubby baby-hands. "Are you hungry?"

Naruto looked at him for a moment, then jumped up onto the arm of the couch before Asuma could stop him. He jumped onto the ground, energy returning to his body. Asuma, startled, jumped up as well, following the boy as he scampered into the small kitchen. Just as Asuma turned the corner, the boy almost ran into him, carrying his big stuffed fox under one arm and a ramen cup in the other. He stepped back and looked up at the tall man unintimidatedly, before breaking out into a big Cheshire Cat grin and thrusting the ramen container into his adoptive uncle's hands. "Ramen!" he shouted enthusiastically before bounding across the living room to entertain himself with the TV remote.

Asuma laughed a smoker's laugh, then turned and began preparing the boy's meal. He'd probably end up eating some of it, since the boy's stomach capacity couldn't be half the size of the amount of ramen in the cup...right?

--

Kakashi stared at him incredulously. "..." A stunned silence answered the Hokage's statement. Finally, Kakashi asked, "But I've already bonded with him and I don't think he'd understand me leaving for a month..."

"Kakashi," the Sandaime sighed, "you must understand that we must take precautions. The outpost is too close to the village walls for comfort. Suna's attack will not be tolerated. I've already cautioned the border guard, but you've got to understand that we need you to help boost protection in the outposts to prevent civilian harm. Hyuuga Taizen and Jiraiya will be going to settle matters."

Kakashi thought about it. Naruto could cope without him for a while, right? He seemed to get along with Asuma well enough. "Alright," he answered, reluctantly. "I'll go, but as soon as this matter is settled, I'm coming back home. When am I leaving?"

"As soon as you finish packing."

"Hai, Hokage-sama!"

--

"Well I'll be a monkey's uncle." Asuma didn't know how wrong his prior thought was. Naruto had not only eaten all the contents of the container, he did it in 3.2 seconds. He laughed as Naruto jumped down from the chair and began acting like a monkey.

"Ooo eee ahhhh ahh!" The strange sound did, indeed, resemble a monkey's cry. Naruto slid up to his surrogate uncle and stood upright again, before grabbing the dark-haired man's big, muscular hand in both of his own. "Play, Uncle As'ma, play!"

"Play?" Asuma echoed, unsure, but he nodded and bent down. "Well, then...why don't we play tag?"

"TAG!" Naruto shouted, tapping Asuma's nose before bounding away into the kitchen, which looped around, having two doors leading to the living room. Asuma bolted after him, not going too fast but careful to keep up. Being much larger and heavier, he had to slow down at the corner as not to run into something, but found when he did that Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

He looked in all the cabinets and on top of them, as well as in the refrigerator (Kami knew where Naruto might have managed to get), and he even looked in the kitchen utilities closet. Thirty minutes after he'd entered the kitchen, he went to look in the living room and the bedroom that Naruto and Kakashi shared. He looked under the couch, under the bed, in all the drawers, behind every door, and in every nook and cranny he could think of until he yelled, "I give up, Naruto!" No response. "Naruto?" Asuma was getting worried.

The front door opened, causing his head to jerk in surprise. It was just the silver-haired Jounin he was babysitting for. "Hey, Kakashi."

"Yo. What are you doing?...and where's Naruto?"

"We were playing tag, but I can't find him so I gave up but he didn't come out."

"Try the air duct. It's his favorite place."

"...air duct?"

"Behind the trash can."

Asuma nodded and turned while Kakashi went into the bedroom. He pulled the trashcan away from the wall and, indeed, there was little Naruto, peeking through the slanted slats of the vent's covering. "Found you," Asuma said, grinning until Naruto pushed it open and ran to where the game had begun (by his rules, this automatically became base).

There was a cry of "'KASHI!", which was Naruto's nickname for Kakashi, and a boisterous laugh, followed by the flopping sound of someone hitting the couch. As Asuma rounded the corner yet again, he wasn't surprised to see an over-joyed Naruto sprawled over Kakashi on his stomach. Kakashi had fallen back onto the couch from the sudden weight.

"Hello there, Naruto," Kakashi laughed, flicking his surrogate son's forehead affectionately. He chuckled as Naruto curled up against him. Asuma walked over and stood at one end of the couch.

"What'd he say?"

"Month-long mission. I'll be away until some matters are settled with Suna. They attacked the West Gate, and the Southwest Wall is still being repaired from..." He trailed off and Asuma nodded.

"And I'll be babysitting the gaki?"

"Yep."

"And you'll be packing and leaving as soon as you're ready?"

"Yep."

"And are there any things I should know about Naruto's habits beforehand?"

"Yep."

"Are you going to tell me?"

"Yep."

"Are you going to tell me today?"

"Yep."

"Are you going to tell me now?"

"Yep."

"Stop that!"

"Right. Anyways," Kakashi continued, grinning at the irritated look on his friend's face, don't give him any s-u-g-a-r or caffeine (he doesn't know what it means so it's okay to say it, by the way), and he loves ramen. He eats it for lunch and dinner, and he especially likes Ichiraku's. You can treat him to that while I'm gone. You might want to stay here -- yes, you may use my bed, since I won't be here."

"I actually meant his daily routine."

"He pretty much has it down-pat." Kakashi threw him a glance. "He follows the same schedule daily on his own. He can tell you when he's supposed to do what, and knows that the Anko- and Ibiki-monsters will get him if he doesn't brush his teeth and get to bed." Kakashi chuckled as Naruto shuddered. Anko and Ibiki had met him once, and they both scared him to no end. "Those can be used as deterrents for almost anything, but I try to limit it."

"Right. You go finish packing whatever you're bringing and I'll watch him."

Naruto sat up and crawled off Kakashi, allowing him to get up, before crawling over to Asuma as he sat down. "'Kashi goin' away?" he asked pitifully, blue eyes hinting concern and worry.

"Yes," Asuma answered honestly, "but he'll come back. Uncle Asuma will be here until 'Kashi comes back, okay?"

"Mm'kay, Uncle As'ma."

--

Kakashi was bored to death. He really thought he'd keel over and die of boredom. Or maybe someone would cut off his head. Yes, the Hatake could live with that.

He was currently overlooking the entire Western Forest, also-known-as Dawntread. It was dawn, ironically, and Kakashi could see why it was named such. The long, pale yellow rays of the sun seemed to cast an eerie glow, causing the pollen and particles of water and other some-such in the crisp air to glint like the hot embers of a fire. It was truly beautiful, and even though it was only a nickname for the area, "Dawntread" truly fit. The ground was solid but slightly dampened, and the trees thick with emerald-colored leaves for which Konoha was named. The trees were immensely large, several nearly as tall as the watch tower. The limbs were long and thick, sturdily grown.

Many people said that it was the Shodaime Hokage who had made Fire Country (he still wasn't sure why it wasn't called Forest Country or Tree Country) so abundant with trees. Kakashi didn't believe it. A lot of people also said it was the strong spirit of the citizens and shinobi that caused the trees to grow strongly and lushly.

Kakashi glanced at Genma, who had nearly fallen asleep in the warm sunlight. "Oi! Stay awake."

Genma shot upright, obviously startled. He looked at Kakashi through tired eyes. "Ahh, sorry, Kakashi-san."

Kakashi shrugged, and stared out over the landscape. The heat of the day was making him drowsy, too, and as he let his mind wander, he began to wonder how Naruto and Asuma were faring without him.

--

Kakashi had been gone for a week. Naruto was coping well, but every morning when he got up he would wake Asuma and ask, in that cute, childish voice of his, "'Kashi back?" And the answer was always a sad, soft, consoling, "No, Naruto. He'll be back, though, and we'll be here when he comes. You just be patient, Naruto." (1) And Naruto, believing him cheerfully, would always break out into his foxy version of the Cheshire Cat grin, and yell, "Mm'kay, Uncle As'ma!" and leap onto the bed and wrestle with his babysitter for half an hour until they both lay, tuckered out from the rough-housing.

At that moment, Asuma was playing hide-and-seek tag-style with Naruto. He was laying under the couch along with whatever other dust-bunnies and fuzz that had gathered under the large furnishing. Naruto had looked everywhere but under the couch, unsurprisingly. After a while, he flopped down on it, which Asuma knew by the shifting of the springs almost touching his face. The youth sat there thinking and staring at the wall, when something occurred to him. He leaned over the edge of the couch, gripping it with one hand and lifting the skirt of the furniture with the other. "Uncle!" he yelled, and poked Asuma's shoulder. The bigger man laughed and shuffled out from under the couch.

Being that he was 6'3", and very broad-shouldered and powerfully built, he found it somewhat difficult to find good places to hide. Asuma gave a broad yawn and picked Naruto up, tossing him into the air and fully lowering his hands to his sides before catching the blond instantaneously. He chuckled again as Naruto laughed loudly and somewhat annoyingly. He reached out and poked Asuma's forehead protector gently.

"Ca' I ge' one?" he asked babyishly.

"You'll have to become a ninja to get one of these."

"I wanna be ninja, like 'Kashi an' Uncle As'ma!"

Asuma laughed boisterously with a gruff undertone due to his smoking habit. "You promise you'll be a good ninja?"

"Pwomise! I'h be Hokage!"

"You'll be Hokage?" Asuma echoed, then chuckled. He doubted it would ever come true, but who was he to judge? "You'd make a great Hokage." He wasn't saying this to encourage the boy -- actually, Asuma found that Naruto's good-natured, kind personality would be excellent for such a position.

"Now, I go hide!" Naruto ran off. Asuma bent down and began counting to forty, though he knew the quick little boy didn't need it.

He stood up, and went off to scour for Naruto -- he looked all over the house, just to make the game last, even though he knew where the boy would be. The last place he checked before the kitchen was under the couch. "Hmm, where is that little gaki?" he asked aloud for effect, slowly and lightly walking into the kitchen before tugging away the trashcan and getting ready to grab the young blond should he make a run for it.

But no such happened.

Naruto was gone. Nowhere to be seen.

"Gaki?" Asuma called, sobering immediately. "Gaki!" No answer. "Naruto!" He heaved his lungs for all he was worth. But it was no use. He could no longer sense Naruto's chakra signature.

He was _gone_.

--

**A/N:** 'nother chapter. Sorry if you died of boredom, but as it turns out, it is longer than the prologue and yes, I had to have the stereotypical Naruto-gets-kidnapped thing. But I assure you, it'll end a bit differently. Sorry if it seems somewhat OOC of Asuma since he's rather mild but I keep picturing him pouting if Kakashi wouldn't let him smoke. XD

1: Part of this line was what Chiyo would tell Sasori when he asked if his parents were home. Just a note about that.

Anyways, there was a mistake about Iruka's age in the prologue. I had to change that. There's no reason to re-read it, but if you want to re-read the last segment of it, have fun.

Oh, yes, and thank you SO much to everyone who reviewed or otherwise did something except read it (six so far, but twelve alerts and added to three C2 Communities (unsure what that is still; appears to be an encyclopedia of fics of similar genres or something along those lines? Maybe just a way to point out good fics to other readers), and one favorite (SQUEE!), so I'm happy, and about 226 hits total! That was a shocker for me).

As a note about the question (about what Naruto would call Kakashi) in the prologue, there will be a timeskip in Chapter 3 or 4, and Naruto will be five. I'm pretty sure he'd be able to talk by then (I've read that kids are supposed to be put into the Academy at six, so I'd assume that he would), so he should be able to say any of those names, or most that you could list. In this chapter, he could talk in fairly good sentences but didn't, and couldn't properly pronounce everything (he's three!). I hope that was realistic. The only experience I have with kids was when I was between seven and ten. My nephew was autistic, so I don't know how a non-autistic child would speak because he had some speech problems. My niece, on the other hand, is what -- two? Maybe three -- and can speak in semi-sentences. She is SMART. (Love those kids...)

As a note about pairings, this won't be NaruHina. I love NaruHina when written properly, but I can't write it myself and there's no way in hell I'm going to attempt to write something that I'm horrible at. In fact, I'm horrible at romance in general. There's almost no canon characters to pair Kakashi with, anyway, unless it's yaoi or KakaAnko or KakaKure (and since I'm a HUGE supporter of AsuKure, I would never ever ever dare to write KakaKure unless Asuma wasn't in the picture XD). I can't really write yaoi, because I'm straight and I don't like it myself. I've read a few really GOOD yaoi fics, but I'd never be able to write it well. Sorry to the NaruHina fans (I looked at all the people who reviewed, favorite'd, C2'd this story or added it to your alerts list, and most of those people liked NaruHina or yaoi, with several SasuHina, NaruSaku fans). I'm just telling you now to get that done with. If there's any pairings, it'll probably be NaruSaku. Sorry to those who don't like that. I doubt I'll pair Hinata with anyone particularly though (I won't put her with Sasuke -- he's far too cold).

Feel free to comment on that and ask questions. Happy reading!

- Nitro

**P.S. **Sorry the A/N is so long! Suna's attack will be further explained as well as what happened to Naruto.


	3. Chapter 2: Unexpected Savior

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ the anime/manga is property of Masahi Kishimoto. I do not own, nor do I claim right to, it or any of its characters or settings.

--

**Chapter 2 – Unexpected Savior  
**_Upload Date: 9/16/2008_

Asuma's world spun before his eyes. He cursed himself for letting down his guard, and bounded out the door with chakra-enhanced speed. He wasn't very good at tracing chakra, but he could feel Naruto's leading in that direction.

Seeing as it was very, very early in the morning, very few people were up and about. Asuma bounded on the rooftops, cursing himself continually and attempting to follow the trail of chakra. If he didn't find his surrogate nephew soon, who knew what would happen?

--

Uchiha Itachi had no intention of being regarded as a hero -- in fact, all he was doing was walking about in the morning's light. He was currently jogging about the outskirts of the whole of the village. The 10-year-old Jounin had noticed a muffled cry from the forest -- whoever had attempted to scream for help had to have a powerful set of lungs. To his ears, it sounded oddly strangled or choked, probably courtesy of a cloth gag sloppily forced into his/her mouth. He set his eyes towards the forest, Sharingan activated, and took off towards it.

--

He didn't know where he was or where he was going, and he didn't care. He was tied up and had rope burn on his hands, wrists, ankles and arms from struggling. He had a gag stuffed in his mouth, and tape over that. The man who was carrying him was very rough and unpleasant to be held by -- not only that, but the boy felt like he'd been sandwiched between two slabs of concrete and then been run over by a rhino.

He whimpered a muffled whimper and began to cry -- no one was coming. Not his 'Kashi, not his Baachan, not his Jiichan, not his Uncle. He began to wonder if he'd even live.

Now, Naruto was a three-year-old, and therefore the concept of death wasn't exactly clear in his mind. He didn't actually register that he could die, but his feral instincts (courtesy of a certain demon kitsune) were going haywire.

The little boy squinted his eyes shut when the man holding him stopped in his tracks. He could hear muffled voices, and felt the air rush as the man fell sideways. He released the young blond before they both hit hard against the tree limb. Naruto lay there for a moment, then felt a shadow fall across him and breathing on his face. He opened one teary blue eye to look up at a young boy with a forehead protector like his Uncle's and 'Kashi's. He had a kind look about him, though a certain coldness, and black eyes that gently looked him over. His jet-black hair was pulled back into a short ponytail, with strands framing his face. Naruto struggled slightly before he blacked out.

--

Itachi had managed to make one fall unconscious using his Sharingan, but the other had fled with several open wounds. He'd sent three Kage Bunshins after it, one of which had been dispelled. He was currently carrying the little boy in his left arm with the other man held by his right. The weight caused him to slow, but as he went along he felt three or four chakra signatures nearing him.

He recognized one as Sarutobi Asuma, and two others as Uchiha Tekka and Shisui (1-2). The last of them he did not recognize right off, but he stopped and knelt down to rest in wait for them.

Asuma and Shisui were the first to appear. "Asuma-san!" Itachi called to him, catching their attention (they had been crossing in front of him too quickly to notice him). Asuma whirled, surprised, then blinked and leapt to join him on the limb. He nodded briefly before bending to lift Naruto, whose tears were still wet, gently from Itachi.

"Arigatou," Asuma stated, and Itachi knew it was sincere.

"For what?" he answered in a rather monotone voice, though he was somewhat surprised. Had he really done something that significant?

Asuma laughed gruffly. "The gaki's something special. If I'd lost him, I don't want to know what Kakashi would do to me."

"Kakashi-san?" echoed Itachi.

"Yep. He's the kid's guardian. I was supposed to be watching him. Is that the teme who tried to take him?"

Itachi just nodded before allowing Shisui to take the man (he had pulled a muscle in his arm since the man was bigger than himself).

--

Naruto awoke in a hospital. He was laying against something warm and comforting. He peeked through one eye.

A nurse of the hospital was inspecting his rope burn and healing it to a degree. His uncle and the boy he'd seen before were talking beside him, though he did not register what they were saying.

"Uncle...As'ma," he said quietly, a bit tiredly. Then, he sat upright, rubbing one eye gently. The nurse was startled by this and leaned back as he moved, but recovered shortly and began to go off on a lecture that no one listened to.

Asuma, chuckling, ruffled the little boy's hair. "Hey there, Gaki. Welcome to the land of the living."

Naruto grinned at him, then looked at Itachi and narrowed his eyes curiously, locking gazes with him. It then became a staring contest as the two looked at each other unblinkingly. Naruto tilted his head. "Who you?"

Asuma answered for him after a moment of silence, "This is Uchiha Itachi-san. He found you and saved you." Naruto tore his gaze away from Itachi's to look at Asuma.

"Awigatou, 'tachi-niisan." Naruto broke out into that fox-ified Cheshire Cat grin. Itachi looked mildly surprised, but offered a small smile in response before turning to leave. (3)

--

Morino Ibiki had never, in all his years, met someone as stubborn as this young shinobi.

He was a ninja of Konoha, a Jounin named Akio, specializing in stealth and spying. He was a short man, but muscular and fast. He was also extremely headstrong, young and loud. He would not give way, no matter what Ibiki tried.

"Anko," he said in his gruff, booming voice. "You're up. Don't screw with him too badly. That's my job."

Anko offered a wry grin and a chuckle. "Yeah, yeah, Ibiki, we'll see."

With that, the woman strode into the ANBU interrogation room, an air of confidence encircling her with a cocky, lopsided smirk and half-closed, haughty eyes. Akio glared at her icily, something that she promptly returned.

"Listen up, kid!" she snarled, suddenly resembling a cobra with the way her face twisted into a fierce, evil-looking snarl. "I'm going to ask you questions, and you're going to answer! Got it?!"

"Never!"

Anko ignored his response. "Why'd you take the demon?" She knew just how to word things.

"The Bijuu needs to die before it has the chance to cause more mayhem!"

"How do you know it will? Do you miss your big brother so much that you think he'll take the rest of your family from you?"

"He'll take yours, too!"

Anko did not falter though the words stung. "And how did it feel when your comrade in crime abandoned you to die, running to save himself?"

"That Uchiha fought him off! Niichan would never abandon me!" snarled Akio defensively. His face faltered as soon as he realized he'd just ratted out who his "partner-in-crime" was.

Anko smiled, satisfied with the outcome.

--

"Kakashi!"

Startled out of his drowsiness by a hearty call from below, Kakashi shot upright. Genma was already peering over the edge of the watchtower. Kakashi joined him, staggering slightly from tiredness, and recognized Jiraiya and Taizen.

"Jiraiya-sama!" both Jounin said in perfect unison.

"Kakashi!" repeated Jiraiya. "You can come back with us now."

Kakashi just nodded, overjoyed at his early leave.

--

"So you think it was a rogue band of ninja, who left Suna recently?"

"Yes. As it turns out, Suna honestly had nothing to do with it."

"Shouldn't the guard be raised anyway, in case they come back?"

"Nope. The rest of their little group were all found and killed in Takigakure (4)."

"Then I can go home?"

"Yep."

"Do you know what their goals were?"

"We think that it was to draw Suna and Konoha into a war. I'm unsure why, but I'm looking into it." Jiraiya suddenly looked old and world-weary. "Tiresome crooks interrupting my research time," he grumbled somewhat jokingly. Kakashi laughed and the Hyuuga couldn't help but smirk amusedly.

The three were just nearing the outskirts of the homes. The outpost that Kakashi had been stationed at was small, and towards the western side, so Jiraiya and Taizen had passed through there on the way back to Konoha. Now, they were just about inside Konoha. The massive, heavy gates were hanging open as usual, and two men -- Raido and Gai, apparently -- were on trafficking duty -- as usual. Kakashi waved as they approached.

"Yo!" he called, loudly enough to startle the sturdy Nin-dog who was always with them.

"Hi," answered Raido cheerfully. "How'd it go?"

"MY ETERNAL RIVAL! How goes it, Kakashi!" Gai jumped up and went off about the powers of youth, though no one listened to him. Kakashi and Gai had met in a gambling hall where Asuma had dragged him several years prior, mostly to have some fun, right after Rin's disappearance. Kakashi had won twenty times in a row, and went home much richer, and that was the beginning of Gai's self-declared rivalry with the Hatake.

"Very well, indeed!" responded a boisterous Jiraiya. "Now, if you boys will excuse me, I have to report to Hokage-sama before I go catch up on my research!" He giggled pervertedly before he Shunshin'd away.

Kakashi threw them a smile under his mask before following in suit.

--

"...and Itachi found and stopped them."

"Have we caught the other yet?"

"Yep."

Kakashi was standing in the living room, talking to Asuma while Iruka puzzled over where on earth Naruto could have gone. Said teacher was playing hide-and-seek, tag-style with the young blond. Kakashi sighed heavily.

"Grr. I want to hurt someone now." His eye lit up. "Do you think Hokage-sama would allow me to make them die a very painful, very long death?"

"Nope," Asuma answered cheekily.

"Dangit," Kakashi grumbled, and though it was a joking sort of grumble, he was pissed that this had even happened.

Naruto suddenly rounded the corner and ran up to Kakashi. "'KASHI HOME!"

Kakashi grinned and picked the three-year-old up gently but firmly. "Yo, Shorty!"

Naruto clung to him tightly, then struggled out of his grip, landing on his feet. He began running circles around Kakashi, babbling about something that no one could understand.

--

**A/N:** I love you guys. While I was editing this, I had around 514 hits. Just...wow. Even if you didn't review or favorite or anything, just...wow, I love you guys for reading this. It's very encouraging to see that people actually looked at the second chapter (first, technically). So, I'm putting this up a day (or two) earlier than I planned to. Seriously, you guys are so awesome!

The last half is basically a filler. I felt bad that it was so short, so I went off on that. By the way, Naruto called Itachi "'tachi-niisan" because Itachi saved him and Naruto is just a three-year-old. No complaints! I still feel this chapter was badly written...

1: Uchiha Tekka was a member of the Military Police. Not sure his rank, but I needed an Uchiha to pop up other than Shisui. Tekka, from what I know, was supposed to be related to Obito. Yes, he'll come up later. He's somewhat important. Muahahahahahhahahaaaaa. XD

2: Uchiha Shisui was Itachi's cousin and a close comrade to him, called his "best friend" in the English anime and his a close comrade in the Japanese version. I felt like having him come up since no one ever seemed to mention him outside of the Uchiha Massacre or his "suicide". I kinda like this guy. He's supposed to be the strongest of the Uchiha, save Madara and (later) Itachi.

3: For some reason, I'd imagine that children would be scared of Itachi. He was pleased because Naruto wasn't afraid and he'd gotten a nickname of sorts. (Sorry, but if I were in his place – even if I were as cold as him – I would want SOMEONE to recognize me as something other than an emotionless prodigy. Seriously. Everyone looks at him as inhuman and doesn't recognize him as normal, 'cept Sasuke when he gets older in the series, but honestly... Sorry if he seems OOC to you.)

4: That is, the Village Hidden in the Waterfall (the one whose symbol is an arrow pointing downwards). It's small and little-known. Team Seven goes there in one of the OVAs, and they're mentioned in the Chuunin Exams arc. To read more on Takigakure, Google it because I'm too lazy to inform you further of it.

Seriously need you to vote on what Naruto will call Kakashi. (See the prologue if you forgot.) There's also a poll in my profile about whether Naruto should get a mask. I'm kinda considering it... XD Timeskip in next chapter, by the way.

- Nitro-sama (lulz)

**Edit (9/17/08):** Someone pointed out that Izumo and Kotetsu would be Genin during this time-frame, so I swapped them for Raido and Gai (haha, I was gonna put Hayate instead but Gai seemed like too much fun XD). Kudos to them.


	4. Chapter 3: Bitterness and Fear

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ the anime/manga is property of Masahi Kishimoto. I do not own, nor do I claim right to, it or any of its characters or settings.

**A/N:** This chapter picks up at a two-year timeskip. I kinda wrote it out of boredom. So, Naruto is now 5 years old, to clarify his age for future reference. Also, I'm going to say that Kakashi became an ANBU after the Kyuubi attack.

**--**

**Chapter 3 – Bitterness and Fear  
**_Upload date: 9/17/2008_

Naruto determinedly battered the training dummy, fists pounding at it, muscle flexing to a surprising degree. He panted heavily, stepping back to run a hand through his hair. Kakashi was on a mission that he couldn't tell Naruto about, so Naruto was being taken care of by Iruka. The Academy-teacher-in-training (he supposed it was just the current teachers taking advantage of Iruka's eagerness to want to teach) was currently doing more paperwork (Naruto swore aloud when he saw the stack in the office – it wasn't as big as the one in the Hokage's office, but it was still rather large), so Naruto was trying to improve his taijutsu.

Tiny beads of sweat ran down his face. Naruto twisted his neck to the left and swiped his sleeve over them in order to somewhat dry his face.

In an effort to take out all the bitterness he had accumulated in his life, Hatake Naruto thrust his surprisingly muscular fists into the wooden post, causing splinters to scatter off of it. He winced, knuckles bleeding, and cursed softly. His adoptive father was always on missions. It seemed like Iruka was always closer by than Kakashi. Naruto loved his father, but he scarcely had any time to just lean on his shoulder and spend his birthday with him and hug him. It was a sore spot when he saw children hugging their parents at the academy where he was most of the time. He always winced while watching them when he was waiting for Iruka to finish the paperwork. His father was usually busy, from doing enough D-rank missions to support both Naruto and himself and keep their small home in one piece to going off on an A-rank assassination mission.

But tomorrow Kakashi was returning. Tomorrow Naruto could run to the gate and tackle his father, and hug his torso like he always did, and Kakashi would carry him home with a hearty laugh and ruffle his hair and Naruto would always remind him that he wanted a mask like his. Kakashi would always promise to buy him one, even though he never had yet. It was always the same, but Naruto tried not to be bitter because what we have can't always be what we want. Still, he couldn't help but feel lonely. Who would blame him? He got glares from everyone except his adoptive father's friends and a few select villagers like the "ramen guy" and his daughter (though, Naruto just called them Jiichan and Neechan).

--

The wind flared up for several seconds, bursting through the trees and rain with such force that it further compelled the rain to move more horizontally. As it was, it was at a 50 or so degree angle, sometimes closer to 20 depending how hard the wind would blow. It felt like they were trapped in a jungle, greenery everywhere. Unlike Fire Country – the red-haired man had been there only once, years prior – there were more ferns, and the trees were shorter. Tall grass erupted throughout the forested areas, heavily drenched and leaning with the weight. It was no wonder that it was named Grass Country. The entire forest, normally lush and bright with greens and random browns and greys of bark and the rare patch of earth, was at the moment saturated, and seemed to be more grey-toned than normal.

The man scowled, his expression hardly changing. He was glad his real body wasn't getting wet. He hated the rain. It was slick and easy to slip on and made the ground muddy and made everything humid and cold and...well, he didn't like getting wet. He didn't like to swim, either (he didn't know how to). Overall, he just hated water. It was so...wet. It had never rained where he was from. He was beginning to regret leaving, because anywhere else he went it either rained or snowed, and Kami knew he got thrown around everywhere.

The dark outer shell around him suddenly seemed to spring a leak. Water dripped onto his head, causing him to jerk back slightly in surprise before pulling out of his cloak what looked to be a bit of putty. He patched it over the leaking area, a joint where it appeared something would protrude to the outside.

A sudden voice made him stiffen.

"Don't tell me your precious defense sprung a leak already?"

"Quiet," the man growled irritably. The rain always left him in a bad mood.

There was an evil-sounding, hissing laugh. "Now, now, don't speak to me that way. You ought to get out more."

"Shut up!" He didn't care if he sounded particularly childish, because at that moment, the impatient man was at the end of his rope with the never-ceasing rain and his excessively annoying companion.

"Ku, ku, ku," the hissing voice continued, ignoring him. It always made him shudder when said companion did that. "Don't tell me you want to quit the mission, now, Sasori-kun?"

Oh, yeah. And he _hated_ that suffix...especially on his name.

--

Light swirled through the trees, bright orange streaks enhanced for whatever reason, in spite of it being late fall, early winter. The Sharingan wielder suspected that the winter would be delayed, but last longer than normal. He didn't mind. The huge, sun-bleached, sandstone walls towered overhead. The gates were swung wide to the path, invitingly open and casting long shadows in the light.

"'Kashi-niichan!"

A sudden weight latched onto his middle, cheerful yell ringing in his ears. The silver-haired Jounin laughed and looked down at the young blond, affectionately ruffling his hair. "Yo, Naruto."

"YOU'RE LATE!" the whisker-marked boy suddenly accused. "You were s'pposed to be here an hour ago!"

"Sorry. On the way back, I found this bird with a broken wing and had to stop and heal it."

And, even though Naruto knew he was lying, he seemed to accept the answer. Kakashi scooped him up with one arm, chuckling light-heartedly. Naruto smiled and allowed himself to be carried in the general direction of their small home, with a damaged roof that needed constant repair. It was falling apart – Kakashi was mildly surprised it hadn't caved in on them yet. He knew it, too, but he didn't want or have time to move. He was normally just working to suffice for the repairs.

"Kakashi-san," came a respectful greeting, surprising Naruto. Kakashi turned, locking eyes with a somewhat friendly-looking Uchiha Itachi.

"Good morning, Itachi-san," Kakashi answered while Naruto just grinned. Both parties waved at the other neutrally in passing.

Several other greetings of "Hatake-san" or "Kakashi-san" were directed at him that morning, though they got to their home without excessive delay.

"Now, how've you been doing, Naruto?" Kakashi leaned down and set the youth firmly on the ground.

"Training-ttebayo!" Naruto pumped a fist on his chest. Kakashi still had no idea where "dattebayo" had come from, but it was funny and cute (he didn't tell Naruto that). The boy, dressed in simple tan trousers and a white shirt with a red spiral on the front and back, grinned a broad grin at Kakashi.

"In what?" the elder of them inquired.

"Well," Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "You said I could train in taijutsu, since ninjutsu would exert my chakra more than my body could handle (even though I still don't know what that's supposed to mean), so I did."

"Good!" Kakashi smiled under his mask. Naruto puffed out his chest, pleased with the praise of the one whom he considered like a father or older brother. "Come on, you can show me."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, blond hair bobbing with his head, before bounding across the small den room to the sliding back door. He forced it open (it was somewhat difficult to get open due to the way it was built) and disappeared outside. Kakashi quickly followed after him, whipping out his book for no particular reason – mostly out of habit, he supposed.

Naruto was already standing in front of the training dummy that Kakashi had gotten for him to spar on. The boy's hands were bandaged, he realized, probably from over-use. In spite of this, Naruto began throwing punches, hard.

Kakashi watched him silently. He didn't want to press or force Naruto to learn when he wasn't ready, but he didn't seem to be doing very well. The power behind his punches would increase as his muscles developed, but if the training dummy could've moved, Naruto wouldn't have been able to hit it. His punches were sloppily placed and random and wild, somewhat like an animal. It wasn't that he wasn't strong, it was that he was fighting a stationary object. If he'd had a sparring partner, his taijutsu may have been better, but unfortunately most parents didn't want their children anywhere near Naruto.

Most of the kids didn't know why, as he seemed fairly normal, if not overly cheerful. He wasn't an orphan anymore, and no one knew he was adopted because Kakashi had changed the child's name. He tilted back his head, remembering the words of the Hokage after Naruto's near-kidnapped experience.

"_Kakashi,"_ the Hokage had said, _"I believe that the assassins were able to track him due to his last name."_

_Or maybe it was the fact that he suddenly went under the radar and his perfect twin suddenly started following me around,_ Kakashi had thought, but only said, _"So you want me to change his name to prevent it? Just who do you think is idiot enough to think that he isn't the same child?"_ He regretted the disrespect.

"_It may not fix it, but it will help prevent outside assassins from tracking him to you, and will deter any villager or shinobi from attacking him or attempting murder."_

"_What about the two who tried to take him?"_

"_They will be serving time on charge of kidnapping."_

"_Kidnapping!" _Kakashi still couldn't believe that they'd gotten off with that. _"They would've killed him! Charge them for attempting murder!"_

"_I am sorry, Kakashi, but there is no evidence that they would have killed him. It would stir up the council and Danzo as well. They would be breathing down my neck again and telling me that the Kyuubi should be killed, not those who try to defend Konoha. We cannot pursue it further than kidnapping."_

Kakashi sighed at the memories and looked back up. Naruto was panting and walking towards him.

"Am I any better, dattebayo?"

"Some. Not perfect, but better." Kakashi smiled at him under the mask, and Naruto returned it. "When you enter the Academy, we'll start working on getting you a sparring partner. You'll be strong when your muscles start to really fill out."

Naruto looked confused, and Kakashi sighed. "I'll explain it better when you understand."

"M'kay, dattebayo!" Naruto bounded up to him. "Hey! Don't forget to buy me a mask!"

Kakashi looked at him oddly. "Why do you want one, anyway?"

"Because I wanna be just like you, 'Kashi-niichan! Dattebayo!"

Kakashi chuckled and knelt down. "Why is that?"

Naruto puzzled over it for a moment before looking sheepish. "'Cos you're cool! And strong! And respected!"

Kakashi tilted his head. He'd never thought too much about it but he supposed he was respected and thought of as strong, and he supposed in Naruto's mind he may have been regarded as "cool". He smiled slightly and ruffled the younger's hair. "Remember this, Naruto: you don't have to be me, because you're you – Hatake Naruto, crazy, spiky-haired, loud-mouthed knucklehead of Konoha," he remarked, laughing slightly when Naruto jumped up and down at his approval. He had no idea just how much Naruto loved to know that Kakashi loved him and approved of him.

--

Sasori glanced down at his wrist. The joint was old and beginning to stiffen, probably due to the rain. Hiruko was sitting by his bed, and Orochimaru (thank Kami) was nowhere within forty feet of him. He looked at his wrist again, then out the window from the desk he was sitting at. He would need to replace the joint of his hand as soon as possible, because it was getting more difficult to control his puppets' movements. He regarded Hiruko for a moment, then the rain again, then his bed. He didn't need it, though, because he didn't sleep. Orochimaru was buying supplies that they actually had, but Sasori just needed something to get him away.

Why? Well, the first reason was that Orochimaru freaked him out.

The second? It was his birthday. It was the eight day of November.

He hated this day. It was the day that reminded him that he was still mortal, and could never fully be immortal. His body did not age, but his heart did, and it was becoming weaker. Not weak, but not as strong as it had been. And it scared him. It scared him to think of dying.

So he thought of other things. He thought of Leader-sama, whose name he honestly didn't know. He tried _not _to think of Orochimaru. He thought of Zetsu who he did not like. He thought of Kisame who was annoying. And he began to think that he was the only member of the Akatsuki who was remotely normal, even though he was an almost-immortal puppet-human thing who gave up the ability to actually live in order to live forever. (He envied Hidan, who was immortal but still retained his human form.) Orochimaru was just...well, his partner disgusted him. He would rather have been paired with Hidan or even Kisame (but not Kakuzu...he didn't like Kakuzu). Orochimaru just scared him more than the thought of death.

He remembered reporting to Leader-sama, two years prior. The mission had been to test Konoha's defense. He didn't really like traveling through the forests. They had posed as rogue ninja. One of the actual rogue ninja had been taken hostage, and the rest disappeared off the map. They didn't mind, because now they knew just where to strike.

He looked at his wrist again and sighed, forcing himself to stand up and retrieve a bottle of oil from his cloak, which was hung on the back of the door. It was a big black cloak with red cloud-looking shapes on it, outlined in white. The thick, coarse wool rubbed against his better hand as he dug among its folds. Tugging aforementioned bottle free from the inner pocket, he poised the funnel-like end at his stiff wrist. Several drops leaked out, and he shifted his wrist joint for maximum effectiveness. It was only temporary, but it should've held up until they returned to their hide-out where he had spare parts.

He was hit in the face with the door, which would have hurt like nothing else had he not been a puppet. Instead, he just stumbled back and glared at Orochimaru, who was holding food in hand.

"Baka," he muttered irritably, before turning back to sit and watch the rain more. He didn't mind watching it so much as being in it.

--

**A/N:** You guys are so awesome!! Sixteen reviews and over NINE HUNDRED hits! C2'd four times, favorite'd six times, and added to alert 21 times. The last fifty or so emails I've gotten were from FFN as alerts to them. I mean...wow. You guys are so awesome! SQUEE! Thank you all so much! And thanks to annoyinglyanonymous and Pance for the idea of 'Kashi-niisan. I went with "-niichan", but the only change was the level of formality. That won because the only other two votes I had were both for separate things – that was the only one that got two votes (plus, I think it's realistically affectionate and sounds like something Naruto would say...and it's sweet :D). I liked Kakashi-sama (or 'Kashi-sama) too, but now that I think about it it's just not something Naruto would say. Hmm, maybe refer to him more reverently in his mind because he's too proud to admit he looks up to Kakashi like that? (Now, that'd be something Naruto would do, like he did with Sasuke – he actually thought Sasuke was strong and though he would never admit it thought of him as a brother. It'd fit the canon better.)

Four pages long. I mean, it was like three words past four pages. I love how the first part where it introduces Saso-san and Orochi-teme turned out. I had so much fun writing that. Sasori is one of my favorites, so yeah. Orochi-teme didn't leave the Akatsuki until later. I'll get to that in two chapters or so. For those of you who don't realize what Saso-san was thinking about in the last segment, REMEMBER it regardless of your understanding, because it's important. Anyways, Sasori's thoughts about Orochimaru are fairly consistent with my own. I was tempted to make that a crack on Oro-teme, because the Akatsuki are SO fun to make fun of (especially Kisame and Orochi and MAYBE Deidara) but I decided to keep it serious for now. Later, I might rewrite it as a crack for your amusement because it's fun and I sincerely believe that, no matter how powerful Oro is, he's a gay pedophile underneath it. (Seriously...I mean, Kabuto...and Sasuke...ugh. Poor Jiraiya was his teammate, too.) I find it fun to write crackfics on him. If you like Orochimaru, then relax, I'm trying to keep this as IC as possible. Also, I don't actually know Saso-san's birthday, so yeah. If anyone does, correct me please. Anyways...

As for Naruto getting a mask, we've got some for and some against. I'm unsure myself, because yes, I picture him the type to want to be just like whoever he admires (in the canon, as I told several people, that was the Yondaime and Sandaime sorta), but I still can't picture him wearing a mask. It's weird. And yes, I'm making him have a particularly difficult time with placing punches and kicks properly. He'll work on it later on. His ninjutsu will also be held back because most of his Academy teachers treat him like dog crud, except Iruka who'll only be his teacher in the last two years of his time in it. Why? Because Iruka's too young to teach. In this, he was helping grade papers and finish paperwork because he decided he wanted to teach. (Just go with it. XD)

Happy reading. Show your friends, dattebayo.

- Nitro-sama (lulz! 2.0)

**Edited (9/17/2008):** Saso-san's birth date was wrong. Modified. LeafNinja (dot) com and reviewers know all. XD


	5. Chapter 4: Loss and Gain

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ the anime/manga is property of Masashi Kishimoto. I do not own, nor do I claim right to it or any of its characters or settings.

**Chapter 4 – Loss and Gain**  
--

Every year, around the tenth of October, people would become more secluded. The whole of Konoha quieted down. The mood seemed to shift to a sullen one, creating a bitter and morbid air around the village. The children did not know why. The adults did not tell them. The elders were silent with grief and anger, for their memories would never be so worn to forget that horrible day. Even among the children, all was quieter and not as cheerful or happy. The whole of the village seemed troubled and silent. The memorial stone was visited by more and more people, and a wary air took everyone who came into contact with a certain blond. Those who ignored him became more ignorant, and those who glared would further glare until Naruto itched to crawl into his bed like the covers would form a proper barrier between him and the world. All missions were done more quickly and efficiently, with little conversation between ninja. In the evenings, people would retire early and Konoha became quiet. On the evening of the Tenth, many would visit with each other in silence for comfort and to honor the lost.

But, that year, Kakashi decided it didn't really matter, and got up at 5:00 AM. Wearily, he edged past Naruto's bed and out the door -- he had never bothered moving Naruto into another room, since they were perfectly fine in the same one. He yawned as he managed to put together a rather sloppy omelet for himself and got some onigiri from the prior night's dinner for Naruto. Even as he sat down at the table to eat, a tired-looking young blond joined him, rubbing his eyes and carrying with him the old, tattered fox, tucked kindly under his arm. Neither spoke a greeting, much too tired to process the time. (Naruto was not a morning person, and after about half a year, Kakashi joined him in the "cranky-when-you-wake-up" club. Eventually, they just got up because they were hungry and normally went back to bed.)

"Kakashi-niichan."

"Mmhmm?"

"Am I gonna go to the Academy this year?"

"Mmhmm."

"Kakashi-niichan."

"Mmhmm?"

"Are you gonna teach me?"

"Yes."

That was probably the closest thing to a conversation they ever shared in the morning. Naruto yawned and began to eat the onigiri, setting his fox (he really had never named it -- it never seemed necessary) lightly on the table. A long silence passed before Naruto asked, "Are we training today?"

"Yep."

"In what?"

"For now, basic theory in taijutsu and weapons handling, and maybe we'll put it into practice, as well as some basic Academy exercise drills."

"Oh." Kakashi eyed his charge with curiosity. The response wasn't enthusiastic, nor was it disappointed. Naruto seemed just as sleepy as he had before -- no, scratch that. There was a new spark in his eyes, a determined one, and he ate his breakfast with renewed vigor. Kakashi chuckled inwardly. The boy's suppressed eagerness was contagious, and soon, Kakashi was downing his food with an equal gusto.

--

The two had, rather than returning to bed like normal, gone to the Hatake family library. It was more like a study -- Hatake Sakumo had loved to read and had filled it to the brim with all kinds of books, including many Academy-level scrolls and books on taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu theory, as well as some scrolls that included many basic chakra control refinement exercises that the Academy lessons skipped over because the leaf exercise usually covered the basic control that an Academy student needed. Many of these had never even been touched due to Kakashi's high intelligence level -- Sakumo only needed explain it once and he would usually be able to perform it within a month, whereas it took normal students two or three. Those were only early signs of his genius, and once he understood the principles of it, he easily nailed the Clone and Replacement jutsus, along with many other more advanced jutsu. It didn't take him long to develop an arsenal the size of a high-level Genin's, only about three years, while it took more common Academy students five years to get through the Academy. Kakashi couldn't say it wasn't partly because he was a bookworm, not unlike his father -- he'd not only read books on chakra theories and had it explained by Sakumo, he'd easily understood it, and the only thing left was putting it into practice. He advanced leaps and bounds ahead of the other students because of his level of comprehension.

But, back on the subject, they had left the small, single-storey house Kakashi had bought on his salary as a Jounin and travelled the distance across town to the upper-class neighborhood, where the old Hatake residence was. Unable to bear living in the house where his father had committed suicide (1), the silver-haired boy had moved as soon as he could to a furnished apartment, not bringing anything but his father's old sword that would jog up old and bad memories, then moved into a small house a few years later. He was reluctant to return, but knew that their home had to be separate from their training grounds, no matter how temporary. People tend to take on a certain attitude in certain places: home, for example, was a place to relax, while training grounds and the Academy grounds were a place for school and working. Ninjas had to have more flexible minds, as they could never be sure where their missions would take them, but that sort of thing was for a later day. For now, it would make it easier to train the easily distracted boy. Also, the Hatake residence was relatively isolated, with a fenced-in yard that was considerably larger than the tiny one they had at home. It would've been cleaned up by now, so there would be no bloodstains to haunt him, but he didn't know how well he'd do teaching Naruto, especially inside the study/library.

The journey across the village was relatively uneventful, even less so than normal. Very few people were out today. Most shops closed, and it was a day of mourning for lost souls and thanks for the victories, so many remained inside with their mixed feelings. There were fewer out to glare at Naruto, but the ones that were out glared more boldly, even daring to growl out choppy sentences that Kakashi couldn't quite catch (and it was a good thing, because he was quite certain he would attempt murder if he could hear them fully). Naruto had excellent hearing, and by the way he kept edging closer and closer to his guardian, Kakashi guessed that he could hear them clear as day from long distances. At one point, he'd been quite sure that the boy was ready to grab his hand and grip it for dear life.

Any other time, Naruto would completely ignore them, even if Kakashi could see and sense the building sadness in the boy's eyes. He bore the hatred and fear of the village with a startling compassion and endurance, and Kakashi was sad to say that the boy knew better than any child should what it felt like to have killer intent directed at himself. On this day, however, the air of the village, the intensified rage and sorrow, seemed to spook the boy. He knew very well that he didn't deserve the pain they gave him, and feeling that malicious intent to kill, beat, or otherwise maim him must have stirred up repressed and vague memories of past aggressors. Kakashi frowned slightly under his mask. The boy had been so young that the memories would be fuzzy, but Naruto's memory, while selective, was very sharp. He claimed he remembered first meeting Itachi when he was three years old, and even could name many details about the hospital room that the silver-haired Jounin did distinctly remember. The wallpaper color, the scent (though Naruto's sense of smell was far sharper than most people's, while not nearly as sharp as an Inuzuka's), the vase of carnations on the stand beside him, and things of that nature. He remembered the monologue as well, and a few, er, interesting thoughts about Itachi when he initially woke up. His repressed memories occasionally surfaced in the forms of nightmares, and Kakashi had to talk him down before the boy was coherent. He would never open up about it, but the former ANBU deduced from the half-coherent mumblings that the boy was trying to stop someone from hurting him. It made Kakashi sad and furious that the boy had such nightmares. He woke in the middle of the night to dizzying terror and fear. He was always disoriented when this happened, and it took him several moments to get his bearings before he located the source. Naruto never screamed or broke out in cold sweats, never jolted up panting. It was always the pure, unadulturated terror that came off him in waves that woke the ex-ANBU up.

It made Kakashi shiver just thinking about it. What did the boy go through in those nightmares? He prayed it wasn't worse than what he went through immediately following his father's and Obito's deaths. No one had been able to comfort him then. It was a miracle his sanity was relatively intact.

They arrived at the small house quickly. It was a bit larger than their little home, but not large, with the atmosphere of a house that had gone untended for years. He could see a few signs of its age and the lack of care, and had to feel a little guilty for it. The door, however, opened fine. He stepped into the small house with Naruto trailing after him -- he stopped just inside the doorway. The boy's fear and anxiety had diminished and vanished, and now he peered around Kakashi to get a better view. The place hadn't changed much, aside from things gathering dust. The walls were the same creamy white they'd always been. Very simple, with very little personality. The woodwork was all beautiful mahogany, very simple and elegant. He looked at the couch and coffee table, the couch a soft, white velvety material and the coffee table also mahogany. He remembered sitting on that couch beside his father as the former read a book and Kakashi studied taijutsu styles. He remembered his father watching with an amused smile and himself smiling back.

"K'kashi-niichan?" He looked down at the boy, who had a concerned gaze narrowed on him. Kakashi felt faintly uncomfortable -- it felt like having his sensei stare at him, worried, and Sensei always saw through his lies -- but he smiled softly at the boy before returning his distant gaze to the room, not really focusing on it.

"Come on," he said, "you're going to study basic ninjutsu and taijutsu theories." Genjutsu would come later; Naruto wasn't fit to be a genjutsu user, and the art of genjutsu was rather complicated. The theories required high comprehension levels; while basic genjutsu could be performed only understanding certain parts of it, they could be made far more effective when used by someone who fully understood the principles. Ninjutsu was as broad as, if not moreso than, genjutsu, but the basic concept of molding chakra to make it do certain things was something was the principle behind it all. It was learning how to mold that chakra in certain ways that was the catch. To make a clone, one had to gather chakra and mold it outside the body. To use the replacement jutsu, one had to mold chakra to move your body as well as move an object. It required a relatively decent-sized amount of chakra to do so. With taijutsu, the different styles had different principles. For the Uchiha style, it involved using their speed and stamina to its fullest and hitting with many blows that wouldn't take down an opponent, but would slow them down until they could get in a final blow. Due to the Sharingan, however, the Uchiha styles varied between people. Uchiha Itachi relied heavily on his incredible speed and precision to get the job done quickly, an assassin if ever there was one, whereas Uchiha Tekka would prefer a more direct combat. Uchiha Obito was extremely flexible in his fighting style and would have probably leaned towards charging headfirst and seeing where it goes from there, as he was fairly quick but had shocking stamina and passable endurance. (His chakra control sucked, though.) Kakashi felt a twinge of remorse as he leafed through a book, standing in his father's study. It was a book on taijutsu styles. Taijutsu was a very flexible and customizable combat style that the silver-haired Jounin thought his charge would quickly become fond of. He smiled slightly and set the book on the desk, where the movement stirred up a bit of dust. He gazed at the desk as he remembered: his father working, reading and writing, and he'd often take his young son in his arms and hold him as he worked. He suppressed a bitter smile at the memory and instead slumped in the chair, pushing away the bittersweet memories of what used to be. Naruto grabbed the book and sat down in the other chair, a smaller one his father had put there for him -- he'd used to love coming in to watch his father work -- and began reading. He soon had questions -- many of them -- and Kakashi laughed before motioning the young boy to come over to him. The blond obeyed, confused, and Kakashi lifted him and set him on his lap. The boy froze, momentarily startled, before leaning back into his guardian's chest and repeated his question, pointing to what he was confused about. Kakashi answered patiently.

They sat like that for hours, until Kakashi started a tickle fight and they ended up on the floor laughing. It left a longing ache in his heart, but the sound of his young brother's laughter drowned out his sorrow, and eased the pain. He had something now to hold onto, someone to be there for him, who he could be there for. He peered at the little boy, a gift, and not unlike the blond-haired, blue-eyed man who had so long ago been there for him, even when he'd lost everything else.

It seemed that history did repeat itself, after all.

--

**A/N:** Uhm. HI.

I'm sorry...? XD This chapter, if you couldn't tell, is pretty much filler. I loved writing it, though. It turned out to be very Kakashi-focused, as he deserved it.

As for my year-and-three-months hiatus...once again, I'm sorry. I'll try to actually finish this. XD But I need encouragement and some ideas. Oh, and if I get an idea for something, I might make it a little...what's it called?...an omake at the ends of the chapters, because I've got a few ideas for some character interaction. NOW. Go and give me ideas because this fic, while it used to have a plot to follow, kind of dissolved after I lost my place. I JUST NOW wrote this tonight so it was intended as pure filler but I like the character relationship aspect of it. It might seem a bit vague but theories are difficult to come up with, such as how clones are made and how the replacement jutsu is put into practice. Like, UBER difficult.

SO. Ideas! I have a general idea for a bit of the next chapter, but it won't be going much of anywhere from where it is now – pure character interaction, nearly – so yeah.

- Nitro

**NEXT CHAPTER:** _"Naruto?" No answer. "Naruto, are you alright?" The blond remained quiet, seeming not to notice the older man, who was torn between amusement and concern. The blond had been staring at the wall for several minutes, apparently lost to the world._

(And if that isn't vague and useless, what is?)

**Edit (12/10/2009):** I'm so forgetful.  
1: _"Unable to bear living in the house where his father had committed suicide,..._" "Suicide" isn't the exact word -- it's the Japanese "seppuku", and it is considered an honorable death. Sakumo did it to preserve his honor rather than out of depression, as far as I know, but finding your father after he'd disemboweled himself is a rather traumatizing experience and I would imagine that Kakashi would never want to set foot in the house again. The reason I used the word "suicide" is because I thought it flowed better and "committed seppuku" sounds a bit odd.


	6. Chapter 5: Of Blue and Orange

**Disclaimer:** _Naruto_ the anime/manga is property of Masashi Kishimoto. I do not own, nor do I claim right to, it or any of its characters or settings.

**Chapter 5 – Of Blue and Orange**  
--

"Hey, Old Man?"

Said "Old Man" looked up from his paperwork (forget enemy ninja, the Hokage's worst enemy will forever be paperwork) at the blond boy who had addressed him. The boy had been unusually quiet for the past few minutes, sharply contrasting his normal behavior (ask a million questions in one breath and expect the elderly Hokage to understand every word). The Hokage had been letting himself be distracted by wondering what was going on about the sudden silence, but took a bit of relief now that the boy had spoken. Naruto was looking past him with his Thinking Face on (notable frown, narrowed eyes, and a furrowed brow were all signs of Naruto thinking deeply). Sarutobi leaned back and set down his pen, grateful for an excuse to neglect his paperwork (because he couldn't neglect it without a reason -- the council would have his hide). "Yes, Naruto?" he answered aloud, and the boy settled his deep cerulean gaze on the man and let the narrowed eyes and furrowed brow fade, though the bemused frown remained. Sarutobi decided it didn't look right on his face.

"Can you take me to meet some other kids my age?" The little boy looked pleadingly at the white-haired man, who blinked at him, a bit startled. Naruto had never, to Sarutobi's sharp memory, expressed any desire to meet other children his own age, content -- beyond content, _overjoyed_ -- to have some adults who loved him. Hiruzen knew that the boy used to hang around the playground when it wasn't in use, or he would lurk outside of it, watching. He doubted if any of the adults appreciated it if he tried to approach their children. The Hokage was well aware that the boy had rapidly become lonely, and had tried his best to cure or at least stifle that loneliness, but he was a busy man, and often was forced to leave Naruto on his own. He'd once thought that Naruto was getting enough socialization with children his own age at the Academy. Now, he doubted it -- after all, almost all the parents in Konoha warned their children away from "_that boy_." The man forced himself not to scowl at what he'd heard most of the adults refer to Naruto as (along with demon, brat, monster and _that thing_). Often, the names got worse, becoming things that would border on breaking the Sandaime's law.

"Old Man?" Naruto prompted, and the Hokage snapped out of his thoughts in favor of meeting Naruto's eyes.

"I'm afraid I'm a bit busy right now, Naruto," he answered finally with an apologetic tone, but immediately added, "Why don't you ask Kakashi to take you tomorrow? Or maybe Asuma or Iruka will." The boy tilted his head oddly, and the Sandaime thought he might say something, but instead he nodded brightly. The Sarutobi clan head frowned a little, unnoticed by the boy, before returning to his paperwork. Something was on the boy's mind, and Hiruzen made it his personal mission to find out what. Not right that second, of course -- Naruto was content to sit still (well, relatively still -- he fidgeted and shifted constantly, but he wasn't jumping around the room) and stay quiet, and seemed to be in a pleasant mood (when _wasn't_ he?), so the man would not disrupt it. Instead, he continued doing his paperwork, letting his mind wander over the events of the past half hour -- or lack thereof.

Kakashi had dropped Naruto off at about eleven o'clock, and gave him a very brief summary of what Naruto had studied. Mostly, it had been theories, and some taijutsu styles and stances. Kakashi hadn't mentioned if Naruto was picking it up quickly or not, as he'd seemed in a hurry, and had requested to leave Naruto with the elderly Hokage for a bit. "A bit," in Kakashi's language, meant "about half the day," but Sarutobi agreed anyway. Naruto had been happy to stay with his grandfather-figure, and had asked what was up, what the man was doing, and if he maybe had any ramen, and could he have some? (To which he added a quick "please?" when Kakashi opened his mouth, and the Jounin promptly closed it, satisfied. In spite of the lack of sophisticated manners, Kakashi insisted on making the boy be polite, although it never seemed to stick in the Jinchuuriki's mind.) There had been many more questions afterwards, which Sarutobi calmly answered, highly amused by Naruto's curiosity and excitement.

"Old Man, why is the sky blue?"

Sarutobi looked between the innocent, wide blue eyes, so familiar in more ways than one, and the devil incarnated that was paperwork. He wasn't sure which was worse. He sighed. It was going to be a long few hours.

--

They studied for about four hours until Naruto started getting fidgety around 10 o'clock. Kakashi had been, frankly, impressed that he'd made it that long. On top of focusing issues, Naruto had energy levels that even most kids his age didn't have. The kid needed a ton of exercise and activity, or he'd become destructive. Fortunately for Kakashi, Naruto was pretty good at occupying himself outside, so after those four hours, in which they covered ninjutsu and taijutsu theories as well as some of the Academy standard taijutsu, the silver-haired Jounin took the blond to the backyard where the boy proceeded to give a whoop of joy. He was up the nearest tree, resembling a squirrel with the way he grappled. The Jounin chuckled and turned to go back inside, feeling the blond's stare follow his movements 'til the door shut softly.

That was forty-five minutes ago. The boy had played for half of that time before Kakashi went out to get him. Naruto didn't seem particularly happy about that, but didn't mind when Kakashi picked him up, or when he was set on the Jounin's shoulders. He was tense at first, but quickly relaxed, and Kakashi left the house that was so full of memories, not once daring to look back. He'd had to duck down awkwardly to get out without hitting Naruto's head on the door frame, but it was smooth sailing after that as he jumped over the rooftops, heading towards the very southern end of the village. The south end was blocked from attacks by high, jagged cliffs, while the north, east, and west edges had the huge walls and watchtowers. The forest itself was an excellent defense, for all the predators of the forest were vicious and brutal creatures. While they avoided the main roads, which were always watched and patrolled by shinobi, the forests were full of them.

Naruto's oceanic blue eyes were trained fixatedly on the western horizon, so Kakashi was left to his own thoughts in the rare quiet. Naruto was loud-mouthed and loved to ask questions about anything and everything, always curious. While many of his questions were thoughtful, he often missed things or didn't quite absorb the answers. He many times rambled on about how great ramen tasted and how nothing could compare to it, telling Kakashi stories (most of which he already knew), and other such things. The quiet now was unusual, but it was maintained until they arrived at their destination, the Hokage Tower. Kakashi left the blond boy to the famous Hokage and vanished to hunt down a certain young man, who _would_ help him, even if it involved blackmail and physical force. Kakashi grinned to himself -- the type of grin an adult wears getting revenge on a prankster who'd successfully pulled one on him. It was a grin that most people would not like to have directed at them.

--

_Today,_ Uchiha Itachi decided as he stared at the _obviously_ insane man in front of him, _is a weird day._ Aside from it being the sixth anniversary of the Kyuubi's defeat and the Yondaime's death, this was far from a normal day. He wondered if that was the reason it was a weird day, but dismissed it promptly. He was also beginning to suspect a certain old(er) man of clairvoyance, or else he must have been the _god_ of timing. He found that thought a bit contradictory as the man was hardly ever on time. Currently, he was staring at that man with a sense of wary dislike growing.

"Can you please repeat that?" Kakashi blinked at him, having not expected that.

"I want you to help me with setting it up." Itachi stared at him, face utterly lacking any emotion, though he was clearly questioning the older man's sanity.

"...Why?"

"Because you've probably done it before," Kakashi said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I just take Sasuke out for ice cream..." he said blandly, and perhaps there was a bit of apology in his tone, but that was of little importance. He paused, then added, "Or help him with his training." That was a viable option, if the look on Kakashi's face was anything to go by, but he sighed and shook his head.

"Please? For Naruto?" the silver-haired Jounin pleaded (which wasn't quite the right word), and Itachi almost grimaced. Naruto deserved it, and he probably _could_ help...

"Alright," he allowed, a little reluctantly -- he was probably going to have to miss the meeting that the Uchiha elder council were holding that afternoon, but that didn't really bother him. Sasuke would be worried, though -- he worried a lot about Itachi, even if he knew (in his mind, at least) that _nothing_ could kill his brother, and he had no real reason to worry, and what was he thinking about again?

"Great!" Kakashi eye-smiled and Itachi wondered if he should change his mind and go home right then before he ended up being a pack mule. (As if Kakashi couldn't just make shadow clones...) Too late, however, and Kakashi was already leading the way to the market district. Itachi sighed, and followed along after him. _What have I gotten myself into...?_

--

Itachi, about an hour later, was beginning to regret ever letting Kakashi persuade him of this. With his arms weighed down with groceries (he was only ten! Why was _he_ carrying all the bags?!), he followed Kakashi, who had a much smaller bag in one hand and his book in the other. The young Uchiha prodigy was currently following him to the Hatake household. The streets were quiet as ever, and they had been in luck that a few stores were even open. Kakashi had been surprisingly bad at picking out decorations, and though Itachi wasn't skilled at it either, he had a bit more of an idea. Lucky them, they'd also come across Iruka, who had been more than happy to help.

With the Chuunin's help, they put together a decent inventory for a five-year-old, and Kakashi had paid. Most of the things in the bags were orange, and the shopkeepers had raised eyebrows at the amount of orange. Iruka was behind him, carrying more orange, and Itachi was on the verge of glaring at the man in front of him. Couldn't he do at least _some_ of the work? Seeming to sense the boy's annoyance, Kakashi glanced back and smiled, before halting. The Uchiha also stopped, and Iruka nearly ran into him. Kakashi turned and began walking towards a small house, white-ish with --

"No."

Both Kakashi and Itachi turned to stare at Iruka, who was frowning and glaring at the house. "What?" Kakashi voiced their simultaneous thoughts.

"No," Iruka repeated more firmly. The Chuunin glanced at his comrades, who stared, not knowing what he meant. "That is _not_ the type of place for a little boy's sixth birthday." To be frank, Itachi agreed, as he looked over the small house. It wasn't the worst place in town but it wasn't the type of place for a six-year-old to live, let alone spend his sixth birthday. It lacked a real yard and though it could pass as a home, it couldn't comfortably hold two teenagers and three relatively young boys, and anyone else who happened to show up. No, it wouldn't do, and this was what Iruka was telling to the Jounin in front of them. Kakashi shrugged, and finally consented.

"Well, where do _you_ suggest? One of your houses?" the man challenged. Iruka paused, mulling it over, before giving a little sheepish chuckle that would have been accompanied by him nervously rubbing the back of his head had his arms not been full.

"My apartment is kinda...well, way too small," he offered. And then they both looked at Itachi.

It took him a total of .7 seconds to realize what they were thinking.

"_No,_" he said firmly. What did they think his father would have to say about _that_? Nothing good, he was sure. Both of them seemed aware of this, and Iruka sighed.

"You're right, that wouldn't be a good idea..." There was a pause, and Itachi became aware of just how heavy the bags were getting on his arms. Iruka spoke again. "We could always ask Asuma or Gai."

"Asuma's on a mission, and _no_." Itachi agreed -- Naruto and Gai in the same room as each other, with a bright orange cake that had enough sugar to power an army? No. Just...no. Iruka seemed to concur -- but still, he seemed contemplative on the matter.

"But..."

"No."

"But--!"

"_No._" Kakashi was firm. Iruka, however, wasn't done.

"Gai is the only one I can think of! He's got a big enough house, too. And he'd be happy -- _enthusiastic_ -- to help!" Iruka said. Itachi almost grimaced.

"He's right," the young Uchiha piped in, his voice a somewhat higher pitch than either of the older teenagers, and Kakashi sighed.

"I guess so."

"Kakashi, my Eternal Rival, _guesses_?!" The booming, enthusiastic voice of the fellow ninja hit them like a very unwanted brick wall. Itachi could've sworn he heard Iruka mutter something in the vein of "speak of the devil," but couldn't be sure, as his ears were still recovering from shock. "And why," continued Gai, in an equally booming and boisterous voice, "do the three youthful men before me carry so much orange?!" Itachi turned, and there he was, in all his green spandex glory. The Jounin vest around his torso assured that he was, in fact, a ninja, if the headband-come-waistband around his waist did not, in spite of his un-ninja-like attitude. He had eyebrows thicker than Fire Country's forests and a grin so bright that Itachi, had he not known better, might have guessed inspired the sun to shine. His hair looked like a black, really, really shiny bowl, upturned. Itachi could honestly say that he was disturbed. (He hadn't met Gai before and, outside of word of mouth, had not had any idea that the man would be this...well, _this_, whatever that was. And let's face it, word of mouth tends to exaggerate...but somehow it managed to _under-_exaggerate when it came to Maito Gai.)

Kakashi looked despaired (as despaired as he ever looked), but Iruka interrupted his misery. "Hey, Gai, can we hold a birthday party for a six-year-old at your place?" he asked, rather forwardly in Itachi's humble opinion. Iruka didn't seem like the type to dance around topics. Gai turned to him and grinned, seemingly not even putting any thought into the matter before he answered.

"Of course, my fine, youthful friend! May I ask who this party is for, and may I attend?" He was grinning and his teeth were glinting brightly, his fists set firmly on his hips and his stance wide and steady. While he looked a bit wacky, Itachi recognized the subtle signs of a ninja -- solid and precise movements, and fluidity in them. Yes, Maito Gai was a taijutsu master, but he really didn't seem like one.

"Er, well," Iruka started, tripping over his tongue a little before glancing at Kakashi. It seemed the teenager was uncertain of whether Gai was Naruto-Friendly or not. Itachi tensed slightly, but it didn't show. He wondered why, exactly, they hated Naruto. He was willing to bet it had something to do with the child sharing his birthday with the date of the Yondaime's death, down to the date. It disgusted him, that people would treat him like the Kyuubi incarnation just because of --

"Naruto," Kakashi told Gai simply, seeming completely confident in Gai's trustworthiness, and cutting off Itachi's thoughts in the process. Gai seemed a little startled, then he beamed even more.

"What good people you are! Of course! How refreshing it is to see your youthfulness abounding and you doing such a kindness!" Gai exclaimed, and Itachi thought it might become something out of an anime (1) in a moment -- Gai would have anime tears streaming down his face, there would be waves crashing against a rock and a sunset in the background, and moving music would play as he gave a long-winded speech on their youthful goodness. Only the last one happened, and the three of them tuned him out quickly as they followed him back to his humble but comfortable home, much more fit for a six-year-old than Kakashi's tight-quarters home.

When they got to Gai's home, which wasn't that far from Kakashi's, Itachi had to admit that it looked comfortable -- _welcoming_. That wasn't something that Itachi was used to -- his home was more of a house, and the only ones who seemed very _welcoming_ in the entire Uchiha compound were his brother, his mother, and Shisui. Maybe his father loved him, but he gave into the pressure of the council to push Itachi to his limits. It made him bitter towards his clan, but family is family, right? The openness of Gai's house was unfamiliar, and he was drawn to it. It was a plain tan one-storey house with a flat roof, and small ferns on either side of the short wooden porch that basically took care of themselves. It was a bit larger than Kakashi's home, in spite of Gai appearing to live alone, and it would do finely to hold a six-year-old's birthday party in. Gai opened the door, stepped in, and swept his arm with a grin for them to enter. "Welcome, my youthful friends, to my humble abode! Make yourselves at home, I insist!" Iruka gratefully bolted in first, having the heaviest and most fragile load (the cake and many bags). Kakashi entered next, and Itachi refrained from glaring (borderline pouting), then followed after, letting down the bags weighing on his arms gratefully. He glanced around.

The carpet was white, the furniture an equally pristine white, and the walls a creamy off-white. There was a small, functional television on a small, functional wooden stand, and some pictures on the wall of Gai and his friends, both a young Gai and the adult version. Itachi was mildly perturbed when he saw that the young Gai was equally as eccentric as his modern self. He noticed one picture of the taijutsu master at about fourteen with one arm thrown around Kakashi's neck, forcing him to remain in the picture. A young Iruka, Asuma, and another purple-haired girl Itachi didn't recognize off the top of his head were there, too. Kakashi looked ticked off in spite of his face remaining relatively stoic, and Iruka looked caught between amusement and sympathy as he looked on. Asuma was grinning in amusement but he was eyeing whoever had taken the picture as if they were sharing an amusing moment, or remembering an inside joke. The purple-haired girl looked as if she was taunting Kakashi, and Itachi doubted if he appreciated it. The picture was amusing, but it brought some pity out of Itachi -- they had to deal with Gai since he was at least fourteen.

"Itachi!"

The young Uchiha snapped out of his thoughts to look at Iruka, who looked mildly annoyed. It seemed they'd been calling him. "Yes?" he answered in his laid-back tone. Iruka frowned at him, then sighed.

"Can you blow up these balloons?" he requested. Itachi stared at the pack like it was about to bite him. Reluctantly, he took it, creating a shadow clone to help him. Opening the pack, he got started, cursing his miserable luck at getting stuck with this particular job. He started on one of the brightly colored balloons while his clone got another.

Sixty-three seconds later -- _**POP!**_ Itachi jumped slightly at the loud noise, twitched at the red scraps on the ground at his feet, and got another one as his clone tied off its.

Two minutes, and three popped balloons later, Iruka grabbed the pack out of his hand in annoyance. "Go...help Kakashi with the streamers," he sighed. Itachi frowned slightly. What could he say? Balloons seemed to take the "blow up" part quite literally when it came to him.

--

"Naruto?" No answer. "Naruto, are you alright?" The blond remained quiet, seeming not to notice the older man, who was torn between amusement and concern. The boy had been staring at the wall for several minutes, apparently lost to the world. Sarutobi sighed. He had his Thinking Face on again. Suddenly, he looked at the clock.

"Aw, man," he whined, "he's late again."

The Hokage stared at him, and then began to laugh.

--

**(1) **Yes, anime characters have anime. Deal with it. XD

**A/N:** OKAY. So. Hi... I think this might be a little late, I kind of got distracted and then my cat died. But still, it's better than another year and three months. XD Yes, the chapter preview last year was a random thing that had NOTHING to do with the summary of the chapter, but I couldn't pick anything else. XD Sorry. Slightly related, the chapter title was also off the top of my head...again, my apologies. This chapter was NOT proof-read, so if there are any typos, ignore them or let me know.

This chapter is dedicated to Naruto Shippuuden 135 through 140, because I almost cried. (I also almost cried in the episodes before that and in fact DID cry at one point...and as a side-note, is it wrong that I was sympathetic to Madara? Don't get me wrong, I still don't like him 'cause he's a villain, but is that messed up? 'Cause he didn't seem evil until he got all twisted Let's Take Over the World and whatnot.) Oh, and this is also to all you awesome readers. 5560 (or so) hits and 29 reviews and...okay, I'll stop now, but still, you're all amazing and I couldn't have gotten this far (only 6 chapters -.-) without you! On a slightly related note, this chapter is in the high average for me, at 3479 words (in spite of most of it being from Itachi's point of view).

Itachi's point of view gradually got easier to write as I went. Considering he didn't _do_ very much, he might still be just as hard to write and I'm not actually writing him, or else he's OOC. He may or may not be in certain areas. For example, his initial interaction with Kakashi was very tough to write, but later it got a bit easier. Judging by the Shippuuden episode "The Longest Moment," I think Itachi DOES have a temper (but that might've been stress build up), but is generally kind and good-natured. (Did I mention he's one of my favorites?) And that last bit was just for kicks. XD

Oh, and as a side-note, I forgot to include the ages somewhere. Since Kakashi was 14 during the Kyuubi attack, he was only about 16 when he took Naruto in (I don't support such a young person raising a child, but in my defense Kakashi is much more mature than the average 16-year-old). In this chapter, he's 19, Naruto is 5, and Itachi is 10. Additionally, I think Iruka is about 15 now. He was still in the Academy after the Kyuubi attack, so he's probably ten to twelve years older than Naruto. Also additionally, Leaf Ninja says his Chuunin exam age was 16, so I'm pushing it back a year. He's a Chuunin now. It's not particularly important, but I didn't feel like editing it much.

I also noticed, going back and re-reading a few chapters, that I've been very inconsistent about Kakashi and Naruto's relationship. To be honest, I don't know what it is, but in the canon, Naruto tells Sasuke (at the Valley of the End) that he pretty much thinks of Iruka as his father, in spite of their ages making them more like brothers. I think that it's similar with Kakashi and Naruto in this -- they're brothers, but Naruto doesn't _have_ a father figure, so his brother figure also doubles as his father figure. If Kakashi wasn't old enough for Naruto to see him as an adult (even though he's not quite an adult yet), I would say they're more brothers than anything, but it's less age-specific than that. It's a child looking to an adult for a role model. So, now that I've cleared that up (no one asked but I figured I'd include it), on to the next chapter!

**IMPORTANT PLOT DECISION TIME!** What do I do with Itachi? :/ I have three years to get through until the time of the Massacre, and I don't know what I'm gonna do with him or if I'm going to combine this story with another idea and overlap the plots. I don't really know what part he's going to play yet, and if I do the whole plot combining thing then I could probably have him stay in Konoha, but if not, it could go either way and either way, I don't know what I'd be doing with him. I need a beta...or my brother to help me out. XD Truth be told, he's one of the most difficult characters I've ever written. ANYWAY, back on topic, I don't know where I'm going with him, and the plot is most certainly not set in stone. In fact, combining the plots might give me something to work off of that's more solid. The plot of this was vague in the first place, but now I don't hardly remember where it was going.

Merry Christmas/happy holidays!  
- Nitro


	7. Chapter 6: Icing on the Cake

**Chapter 6 - Icing on the Cake**

As if it weren't enough!

Uchiha Fugaku refrained from twitching as the clock chimed and declared Uchiha Itachi officially late for the first time in his entire life, nine or so months in the womb included. The boy was inherently punctual - he was born on the exact predicted date, and from that moment on had never been late a moment in his life. Itachi had, since his youth, been raised in a home where tardiness was _not_ acceptable. The boy developed a knack for arriving much too early for anything he was scheduled to be doing, even important meetings he was forced to attend as the clan's heir, although Fugaku knew for a fact that he despised those meetings with a burning sphere of hatred. If that wasn't enough, _Fugaku_ raised him (and his mother, too); Itachi was thoroughly trained to never, ever be late.

But he was.

And as if it weren't enough that the elders expected him to begin training his son to make sure the Uchiha clan held as high a rank of power as they could get; as if it weren't enough that his prodigy had to be his oldest son, and as if it weren't painful for him to make the boy grow up so quickly. He could have growled for how angry he was right then. But, he reminded himself sternly, Uchiha do not growl. Uchiha sit patiently and wait for their heirs-apparent to reappear from whatever black hole swallowed them mysteriously from the face of the earth, because there was no other explanation for his obsessively-early son to be late than that he was trapped in a random, unknown void in the middle of nowhere. No other explanation at all.

And so Fugaku sat and waited, figuring how long it would take him to placate the elders for his heir's slip-up. If his calculations were correct, the answer was a long, long time.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke glared at the clock.

Itachi should have been back hours ago.

One might assume, upon seeing the boy, that he'd been forced to sit there. The frown on his face and crease in his brow told of annoyance and vague impatience, or perhaps much impatience that was very well-hidden. However, after observing for a bit, one might see an adult approach him, and tell him he ought to go practice throwing kunai, or shuriken, or work on his stances - anything to make him better, and keep him out of sight from the elders. He was hardly a weak child, but he paled in comparison to his genius prodigy brother. He did not live up to what was now expected of the clan head's children. He bordered on being a shame to the name that Itachi made for them - a failure in the shadow of his brother's miraculous success. He could scarcely bring himself to care at that particular moment - his _brother_ wasn't home! That had to mean something had gone horribly, terribly long! Itachi was _never_ late!

"Sasuke, you really ought to go and practice. What would Itachi say if he returned and found you slacking off?" came a stern voice from the doorway of their small living room. Sasuke took a long breath and let it out slowly and silently. He looked at his uncle and kept up his small frown. The man softened slightly. Uchiha Ryou, while not a man of particular gentleness, was compassionate if nothing else, and loved his family, although maintaining the firmness that very few Uchiha lacked. Ryou slowly crossed the room and sat down beside his nephew on the step where Sasuke was waiting. "Is there something else on your mind, Sasuke?" he asked slowly, not used to dealing with young children. The little boy made a face as he considered it, the way little boys do - frowning slightly, brows furrowed deeply, one eye slightly narrowed.

"Why does Aniki have to go to those long meetings all the time? I know he gets bored," the boy stated, always forward. Ryou was surprised at the observation. Most little children couldn't read very obvious signs in behaviour, let alone the most subtle ticks - which were the only thing that Itachi could be read by.

"Because he is going to be the next leader of the clan," Ryou answered slowly. "He needs to be trained to deal with the elders, and know how to lead the clan. He needs to know how to handle the affairs and what sort of mundane issues might come up often." Sasuke turned to his uncle and met his eyes.

"But why does Itachi have to do it?" he asked, almost impatiently. Ryou sighed softly.

"Itachi is an excellent candidate, and the first-born of the clan leader. He is smart, skilled, and rapidly excelling. It is important that the Uchiha clan is left in capable, strong hands that can guide it and mould it into something great." The man eyed the black-haired child. "Do _you_ want to lead the clan?" Sasuke looked up, startled.

"Of course not!" He wrinkled his nose, like it was a bad dream he didn't want to remember anymore. "Dealing with those stuffy old fogeys all day? No way!" He became more excited as he went on, his eyes shining eagerly, "I want to be Captain of the ANBU!" Ryou laughed a deep, low, booming laugh, highly unusual for an Uchiha. He wasn't exactly the opposite of the Uchiha stereotype, but he was a little unusual for them in some ways, and when he was alone or with close family (especially the young ones - he had a soft spot for them, even if he wasn't sure how to handle them), he allowed himself to let go of his uptightness a bit.

"And a great one you'll be, I'm sure," he answered.

"But I don't think Itachi wants to be the clan head any more than I do," Sasuke continued, his excited expression dissolving into one of mild distress. "I mean, who _would_?" Ryou sighed deeply.

"You would be surprised, young one," he remarked quietly. Sasuke didn't seem to hear him.

"Where _is_ he, anyway?" he grumbled, becoming anxious again as he looked at the clock. Ryou smiled slightly as he stood up and gently rested a large hand on the boy's head.

"He'll come home soon," the man assured him. "He did promise to spend some time with you this evening," he continued with a smile, and Sasuke beamed and nodded rapidly.

"He's buying me ice cream for taking so long!" the boy exclaimed, and Ryou chuckled. "Cookies'n'cream!" Ah, so he'd inherited his mother's taste in ice cream. The man leaned down again.

"How about," he began in a conspiratorial mock-whisper, "I give you a little mission?" Sasuke looked up at him with wide, startled eyes.

"Yeah!" he finally burst out, after moments of silence. He eagerly nodded his head and lowered his voice to a childish attempt at a whisper. "What do I need to do, Sir?" He paused, then scrambled to his feet to salute his uncle. Ryou grinned.

"It's very simple," the tall man told him. He leaned in and began to explain in hushed tones everything that he needed Sasuke to do for him.

* * *

Kakashi tried to suppress the urge to stretch and yawn after having finally finished with the last of the decorations. There weren't very many, and since they were all skilled ninja, it shouldn't have taken as long as it did to set up some simple decorations.

The main issue wasn't that they _couldn't_ set them up so much as that none of them, except Iruka, knew _how_ to set them up. Kakashi thought that now, if he tried, he could imitate Iruka's voice saying, "No, that doesn't go there!" and "No, no, over _here_," to a tee. Most of their time consisted of the Chuunin patiently explaining where things went and why they went there and what they did and why they were needed at all until the Jounin was quite certain that the Umino would have a permanent headache, and possibly a tic. He and Itachi had quite an adventure themselves trying to figure out how to arrange the various brightly-colored streamers (with Kakashi doing the majority of what little talking there was between them - neither of them were conversationalists) until Iruka finally had mercy on them and suggested that it might be a good idea to string them from the ceiling. Luckily, they managed to do so to Iruka's satisfaction on the first try, for which both parties were grateful. Either that, or the Chuunin had finally decided that they were all lost causes and had given up on helping them entirely.

Gai was actually quite helpful about getting things done quickly and efficiently, if a bit differently than a less...eccentric person might prefer. Kakashi was a little amused and more than a little disbelieving of Gai's various antics, and his unusual and creative ways of using the decorations, in spite of having known him for so long. The man had managed to thieve a few lengths of Itachi's streamers and merrily draped them over the arms and backs of his two pieces of furniture, a couch and a chair, both of which were as soft and fluffy as a cloud in the sky. The colors - bright orange, red, and yellow in various shades - contrasted with the white; the random bursts of color, lacking a pattern, reminded the Jounin strongly of Naruto. He grinned.

It was perfect.

He stood back to admire the room as Iruka sighed in relief. "It looks...nice," the Chuunin commented slowly, as if he were surprised by that fact. He slumped down on the chair and sighed in relief, ignoring the protesting crinkle of the papery streamers.

"It is an abundant fountain of youthful celebratory cheer!" Gai declared, quite certainly and a little too loudly. There was silence from Itachi's corner of the room, but Kakashi had no doubt that the young boy felt just as relieved for it to be over as he was. Decorating simply was not Kakashi's favorite pastime.

There was a pause, as if none of them were certain what came next. Kakashi knew he needed to actually _get_ Naruto here now, so that the boy could appreciate their hard work (the boy _would_ appreciate their hard word because Kakashi would probably pull out his hair if he didn't). He wasn't sure what to do or say, exactly, though. He didn't linger on it too much - he wasn't very known for his manners, so it would hardly damage his reputation any if he dismissed himself a bit rudely.

"I'll go get Naruto now, then," he said, probably needlessly. He spun on his heel before they could respond and trekked at an almost lazy pace out the door.

He considered whether or not to shunshin to the tower, but ultimately decided against it. Last time he did that, he ended up waking Naruto from a very peaceful rest, which was badly needed after spending all night awake. He never did tell Kakashi why he'd been awake, but the Jounin didn't press the matter, as whatever it was seemed to have passed. The Hokage had seemed amused but more sympathetic to Naruto than Kakashi as the boy complained at his guardian about growing boys needing their sleep, and not to interrupt his little cat-naps ever again please. (Kakashi had snorted in laughter at the expression, to which Naruto was offended - _"What are you laughing about? Cats need their naps, too."_) Kakashi decided he didn't want to have Naruto complaining the whole way there, especially not on his birthday, and decided instead to enter the Hokage's office by his usual route.

The village was as empty as it had been that morning, with only a few people wandering around, seemingly aimless. Kakashi recognized some of them as loved ones of a few ninja he'd known, at least in passing, who had died six years ago. Most of them didn't notice him watching them from his vantage point on the roofs. He was technically not supposed to be up there unless he was on official business, but he doubted that there would be a huge crisis that the shinobi would suddenly have to rush to, most preferably over the roofs as they were the most direct route to anywhere in the village. There were also supposed to be some ninja patrolling the roofs, but they didn't seem to be nearby. Kakashi made a mental note to find out who had been on duty, and either reprimand their laziness or praise their ability to hide their chakra, because he certainly didn't sense any ninja nearby on the roofs.

He was soon at the tower again, walking lazily up the wall of the building. Usually, an ANBU might stop him, but it seemed that the Hokage was expecting him and had warned off the vicious guard dogs who rarely ever barked before they bit - and they had quite a bite. A row of huge windows made a semicircle around the elderly Hokage's office. They all had window panes installed, but were rarely (if ever) closed, letting in warm, fresh air and sunshine, the way Sarutobi liked it. Kakashi found this quite useful, as, rather than going the commonly accepted route, he usually made a nice, not-so-grand entrance through the windows, often scaring whatever poor Chuunin had been reporting to the Hokage at the time. He reached the red-shingled extension under the windows in record time, and looked at the scene inside. The Hokage was alternating between doing paperwork and listening to Naruto's rambling story about last week's ramen incident. Kakashi frowned and glared at the boy. They had agreed not to tell anyone about that.

Nonetheless, Kakashi could tell that Naruto wouldn't notice him for several minutes. The Hokage already had - you didn't get to be Hokage without learning a few tricks first - but he didn't say anything about the young Jounin's presence, so Kakashi hoisted himself silently up and arranged himself on the sill carefully to look like he'd been there for quite a while. He pulled out his book and leaned back against the frame, arranging his face so he looked as neutral and calm as ever. As he'd predicted, Naruto rambled on, betraying their pact further until he finally noticed his guardian.

"Niichan!" was the boy's startled exclamation.

"Hm?" Kakashi responded. Such a response had come to be expected of him - as if he hadn't been paying attention at all, although he'd been listening quite keenly so as to gage the extent to which he should exact his revenge for the big-mouthed boy's breaking of the pact. Sarutobi, unsurprised in the least, turned to him a little, smiling. He looked about to say something, but then Naruto was on his feet from the chair he'd been planted in.

"You're late!" he accused, pointing a finger, both literally and figuratively. Kakashi looked at his nonexistent watch.

"Am I? Hm, who would've thought?" he answered, as if ponderously, then shrugged. Naruto glared and crossed his arms, but Kakashi was fairly certain that the boy had given up genuine anger or frustration long ago. The Hokage, after all the years spent dealing with Kakashi, was fairly well-adjusted, and even found it amusing at times. But anyway - "Come on, we're off." Naruto's false frustration evaporated and he looked at his guardian curiously; the man said nothing, only offered his hands. The Jinchuuriki's curiosity overcame his small upset, and he rushed to the Jounin and was swept up by his arms, turned about, and pulled over the man's back like one might pull on a cape. Naruto gripped and Kakashi released, saying, "Thank you for watching him, Hokage-sama." Sarutobi's smile widened minutely.

"Not a problem, Kakashi." Without a word, the two vanished into the wind.

* * *

"Itachi!"

Said boy was quite nearly bowled over by the six-year-old bundle of joy and energy and adoration that was his baby brother. He blamed the shock of it, and the fact that this weird day had thrown him off, and the fact that he had neglected to take into account that six-year-old bundles of joy and energy and adoration tended to wait on the stairs for their older, less joyfully-energetically-adoring brothers to return from their Void of Delayed Arrival. Nevertheless, he smiled down at Sasuke, who clung to his waist like one or both of their lives depended on it, speaking muffled words into Itachi's stomach. The older of them pushed the little leach back.

"Say that again."

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did you get attacked? Were you called off by the Hokage?" Itachi blinked as a hundred questions bombarded him, and put a hand on the boy's mouth.

"I'm fine. You have to be quiet. Father can't know I came back and left without reporting to him." Stupid meeting.

"Oh, oka- wait, you're leaving again?" Itachi almost cursed, wishing he hadn't let that slip - not because he wanted to hide it from Sasuke, but because six-year-olds often take things the wrong way. "Please don't, Itachi! You just got back!"

"You're coming with me."

"And I-! I am?"

"Yes. Now come along, and be quiet." Itachi bent down and Sasuke jumped up and clung to his brother's back, resting his cheek on the older boy's shoulder. Itachi made his way out as quickly as he could manage without alerting anyone. Doubtless, he'd been noticed - one couldn't just enter the Uchiha compound and leave unnoticed - but not by anyone of great importance, or anyone who would dare to stop him. He didn't breathe his sigh of relief until they were well away and very nearly at their destination.

"Aniki?" Now unconcerned for his brother's health, Sasuke had taken up use of the affectionate term again.

"Hm?" Itachi tilted his head so he could hear a little better, and to show he was listening.

"Where're we going?" The Jounin smiled a little, appreciating that Sasuke had waited to ask the question. He knew that his little brother was far more perceptive of his moods than anyone else, and had noticed the tiny signs of relief that he didn't try to control. Even without those signs, Sasuke had always been uncannily aware of Itachi's mood; for that, the older brother was glad. The little boy usually gauged Itachi's moods and behavior and behaved accordingly, always trusting Itachi to be right. He made a mental note to try to get Sasuke to depend on him less - the Academy would help, as Itachi wouldn't be around to give signals for Sasuke to gauge the situation by, but it wouldn't be enough. _But that's for another time,_ he mentally re-railed his thought process, putting the topic in a neat little box for later.

"A...friend...of mine," he paused to consider the word's inaccuracy, "...his...brother's birthday is today. He's about your age, and he doesn't have very many friends." Itachi grimaced inwardly; he should've thought to introduce the two sooner, but it wasn't like he saw Naruto on a regular or scheduled basis. As they were six-year-olds, it probably wouldn't matter, because six-year-olds tend to hit it off and become instant best friends - usually. At least, six-year-olds like Naruto and Sasuke, who were both friendly in their own ways and fairly good-natured.

"Really?" Sasuke sounded confused, and a little distressed - _Of course._ A kind child at heart, his little brother would hate the fact that Naruto was rejected - _not very many friends_ was the understatement of the century - and instantly determine to become the boy's friend, no matter what. There was a pause. "Aniki, how many people will be there?"

Itachi tallied it up mentally. "You and I, Hatake-san, Maito-san, Umino-san, and the boy whose birthday it is." Sasuke tilted his head, and was doubtless about to ask another question had Itachi not turned to face a house and stopped. "This is it."

"This is where they live? It's..." Itachi crouched down and Sasuke dropped to the ground, landing on his feet. "...nice," he finished, smiling, and Itachi smiled too.

_It is._ Sasuke grabbed the fabric of his brother's shirt, sticking close as they went to the door. Itachi hesitated, considering knocking, but shrugged it off and opened it quietly.

* * *

Naruto asked no questions at first - but of course, he was bound to. "Where are we going?" Kakashi smiled. He hadn't taken Naruto to this particular section of the village, although it was very, very near to their home. The boy had taken several minutes after they had entered the unfamiliar territory to realize that he had no clue where he was - which wasn't unusual in and of itself, unless it came to the roofs. Naruto knew the roofs like the back of his hand, had memorized the routes to every important location that they frequented in the village (most important being, of course, Ichiraku Ramen), but otherwise had no sense of direction or attentiveness to his surroundings whatsoever. Kakashi made a mental note to work on that as the boy grew.

"You'll see." He could hear Naruto's pout in his next words.

"You always say that when there's something you don't want me to know." That was...fairly true, Kakashi realized. Any time Kakashi had taken Naruto near the memorial when the boy was three or four, he had told him when the boy questioned him in a soft, somber tone, with the voice and grammar of a three year old, about where they were going, the teenager told him something akin to, _"You'll see."_ It was easy to say, and gave away nothing. Naruto did, in fact, see, but Kakashi knew he didn't know what it was; the boy, bless him, never questioned that much, at least. The Jounin was surprised that his charge remembered that, though, as he was very young, and hardly the most attentive child in the world. Naruto barely remembered what he had for breakfast by lunch, let alone an event that occurred during a more hectic part of his life.

"That's true," the man acknowledged aloud, pressing aside his rapidly digressing thoughts in favor of answering, "but...just wait." He smiled, and Naruto obliged, although probably he was feeling a little cautious by now. His smile rapidly became a grin as he pondered what the boy's reaction would be.

It was fortunate for them both that Kakashi was a ninja. Otherwise, he wouldn't have realized that they would fly over Gai's house on the next leap unless he altered his course. He changed directions at the last second, landing and crouching to break the fall. He released his grip on Naruto and the boy slid to the ground. When Kakashi looked down at him, he seemed confused. The question was evident: _"Where are we?"_ Kakashi merely grabbed the boy's hand and led him to the door, then looked down at him and placed a hand over his eyes, twisted the knob, and pushed the boy in before him.

"Kakashi...?"

"Are you ready, Naruto?"

"Uh...okay!"

The hand fell away, and Naruto's jaw dropped. Kakashi peered down from behind him.

"Surprise!" Iruka said cheerfully -

"NARUTO-KUN! Oh, your youthful energy radiates from you, even while you recover from the delighted shock of discovering a surprise birthday party!" Naruto's jaw was still touching the floor, as far as Kakashi could see, but he finally closed it when Gai slapped his shoulder. He hardly flinched, rather, grinning.

There was a pause. Kakashi crouched down behind his young charge, speaking now in a low voice.

"Happy birthday." The boy spun on his heel to face his guardian, and Kakashi froze as the small six-year-old's arms were flung around his neck tightly.

"Thank you, Niichan..."

"You're welcome, Naruto." Slowly, and smiling, Kakashi hugged him back. He was certain that Gai was grinning and soon to be having one of his moments again, and Iruka was smiling fondly. It was about then that he realized something missing.

"Where's Itachi?" Naruto took the cue and released him, and Kakashi straightened up to look around the room. Iruka shrugged.

"He said he'd be back."

"'tachi was here?" Naruto inserted. Kakashi nodded, his smile too subtle to be seen under his mask. Naruto admired Itachi greatly, as he still had memories of his savior. The boy was beaming.

"Naruto-kun! How would you like to play a game!" Gai's question came out more as an exclamation. Naruto grinned, a bit like the Cheshire Cat, and half-ran, half-hopped until he was jumping up and down in front of the taijutsu master - as though completely forgetting about Itachi. Kakashi chuckled under his breath.

"What kind of game?" came out grinningly - Kakashi could _hear_ his grin. "Tag? Hide and seek? Pin the tail on the donkey? Truth or dare? Can we bob for apples? Race? Play Marco-Polo?"

"That's a pool game, Naruto," Iruka inserted, sounding amused. Naruto looked slightly disappointed - then he brightened.

"We can play it in the back yard!" Gai laughed at that.

"Of course we can! And we can do all of those! In fact, if we get tired before finishing a round of every party game we can think of, we must run up the Hokage mountain _five hundred times!_" the man declared, reinforcing Kakashi's firm belief that he was utterly insane.

The door opened at that point, creaking just a little, and Kakashi turned to see the young Uchiha standing in the doorway. He opened his mouth to make an inquiry as to the boy's whereabouts, but noticed then that there was a little someone whom he'd never met there, as well. Kakashi crouched down.

"Hello," he said.

"Hi," the little, black-haired Itachi-lookalike answered. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke," he added, smiling, but kept one hand clamped around the hem of his brother's shirt as he extended his other one. Kakashi shook it.

"I'm Hatake Kakashi."

"It's nice to meet you, Hatake-san."

"It's nice to meet you too, Uchiha-san."

And then Naruto, who had been examining the streamers on the ceiling, happened to turn, and Kakashi moved to the left just in time for Naruto to bound past him. He might have assaulted Itachi with a hug and hundreds of questions had he not noticed the other little boy who looked like a tiny Itachi that stood there, staring at him uncertainly. Diverted from his original target, Naruto skidded to a halt, tilted his head, then grinned and thrust out his hand.

"Hi! I'm Naruto! Who're you?" Sasuke seemed to be surprised, but then smiled and took the hand, pumping it energetically as he released Itachi's shirt.

"I'm Sasuke," he announced, much less formally than he had with Kakashi; he seemed to remember his manners enough to add, "It's nice to meet you, Naruto." Naruto, for his part, was bursting with cheer.

"Do you wanna play?"

"Sure!" The Uchiha paused, looking befuddled in the way six-year-olds do when contemplating such a serious matter as their game to play. "What should we play?" Naruto adopted a similar expression.

"Umm...you wanna play tag in the back yard?" The beaming cheerfulness instantly flooded Sasuke's expression.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Naruto glowed and bolted off at top speed as if he knew where he was going. Sasuke followed, laughing.

There was an odd silence as Itachi fully entered and closed the door. Then Iruka remarked, "That went well," and Kakashi couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

**A/N:** So hi. It's been a while...again.

I'm fairly confident that I at least know what I'm doing with Itachi. There may or may not be EPIC spoilers. Seriously. Like, the size of Asia...and Europe..._and_ Eurasia...and we might as well add Australia for kicks.

Did you ever notice that four of the continents start with A (Antarctica, Asia, Africa, Australia), five of them start with vowels, and the other two are just the North and South of a continent that also starts with an A? Hmm.

Anyway, so the Uchiha Massacre stuff and beyond has been determined. No, you won't know what happened for a good, long while and I guarantee you'll be confused. The primary plot has been slightly re-aligned in my head, as I recently discovered some notes of mine that jogged my memory. Yay for notepads. Also, Tobito theory, anyone? I hated that aspect of the canon... So for those who know what it is (and who Tobi is, and why it would matter), please vote. Introduce "Tobi" early in the game? Yes or no, and input if you want. Tobito? Yes or no, and suggestions on how to apply it. (I still think Tobito was the original intention, but the plot changed course at some point.)

If you don't know what Tobito is, it isn't really spoilerific, so feel free to ask. Also, was Sasuke okay? I know he's usually depicted as very quiet and even shy sometimes at this age (except with Itachi), but come on, he's a six-year-old, and six-year-olds usually do hit it off really well. Personally, I think it was fine, but that might just be me.

This chapter is dedicated wholly and completely to my regular reviewers, my one-time reviewers, and all my readers - I kept watching the hit amount go up, and it made me feel terrible for this being so late. This especially goes out to my first reviewer ever, AnnoyinglyAnonymous, and I hope that wherever they are, they're having a great day. This is also dedicated to MidniteCurse4Eternity, and I would list all of my reviewers but I don't want this A/N to get too long. :) Thank you all so much for taking the time to review. It's always appreciated, and I always make a point to respond (and if I didn't, tell me and I'll mention your name in the next chapter with a public apology ;) ).

If this isn't updated within two months, jump on me about it and send me a PM every day reminding me to write. Seriously. This is not a joke - make me feel guilty and I can get four chapters done in one sitting. :P

- Nitro


	8. Chapter 7: Friends and Brothers

**This chapter is dedicated to Legionfan231 and MidniteCurse4Eternity, the primary reasons this chapter is out.  
**May you always be super-epic-awesome.

* * *

**Chapter 7 - Friends and Brothers**

"Tag!"

Naruto whirled at that, and chased after his new friend. Laughing and panting, he watched Sasuke begin to make a left turn, and dodged left, intent on catching him then. Sasuke, though, grinned and halted his momentum, and Naruto tried to slow down. He'd been running top-heavy, and now went tumbling into a clumsy roll, which he quickly tried to control, reaching out and tapping Sasuke's legs as he finally came to a stop and landed spreadeagle. "Tag," he echoed with a grin.

There was a pause as Sasuke collapsed and they both panted, but beamed, and Naruto rolled onto his side to face Sasuke.

"You're turning six?" asked the black-haired boy, turning his head. Naruto nodded happily.

"Yeah! We usually don't have a party like this one, but I'm glad we did." He may as well have been emulating the sun. "'tachi and Iruka-niisan came, and 'kashi-niichan is home, and Fuzzy Brows-san is here."

"Fuzzy Brows?"

"Um, I think his real name is Gai, but I think of him as Fuzzy Brows." Sasuke giggled in the way six-year-olds do. They were quiet for a moment, but it didn't last.

"So is Hatake-san your brother?" Naruto blinked.

"'kashi-niichan? Yeah," he answered, then added, "He raised me." Sasuke looked over at him at that.

"Raised you? Your whole life?" Naruto nodded. "Where are your parents?" The blond tilted his head in thought.

He focused - nothing came to mind. Not a whisper or mention or anything at all. He looked at Sasuke, confused, and shrugged. There was a pause.

"What should we play now?" Sasuke changed the subject, returning to the truly important matters in the life of two six-year-olds. Naruto grinned mischievously.

"Marco-Polo!" Sasuke laughed.

* * *

"Should we, uh, be watching them?" Iruka commented, growing weary of the quiet that immediately overtook as soon as the brief conversation about the two young boys tapered off. Gai nodded.

"That would seem to be the wise thing! Of course, the youthful children would never do something so heinously unyouthful as to cause trouble!" Nevertheless, he was the first to the door, and "youthfully" held it for the other three as they went out. Itachi lagged a little behind Kakashi; he wasn't particularly concerned about letting the two boys play, but it would feel impolite if he simply left someone else to do the watching for him. He observed the two, evidently playing Marco-Polo, and smiled imperceptibly as Naruto blindly stumbled after his brother.

Unable to resist, he silently made his way until he was trailing behind Naruto. The boy paused, turning his head left and right as if looking around. Seizing the opportunity, Itachi leaned down and murmured lowly, "Use your ears." The sharp yelp that came in response was both amusing and satisfying. The blond spun around to face him, eyes open and glaring as he pouted.

"'tachi! Don't scare me!" The boy added something under his breath about a "meanie-head" that Itachi chose to ignore as he turned to remove himself from the playing field. He could almost hear the lightbulb turn on above Naruto's head as the boy said, "Wait, 'tachi! Play with us!" Itachi opened his mouth. "It's no fun with two people!"

"Yeah! And you're fun to play with, Aniki!" Sasuke added eagerly. Itachi opened his mouth again.

"Please?" Naruto finished with begging blue eyes. And - wonderful, Sasuke just adopted his _"please, Itachi?"_ face. Itachi opened his mouth slightly and paused, wary of being interrupted again.

"Okay," he finally submitted to them, and Naruto beamed and attacked him with love. Sasuke leapt up and hugged his waist while Naruto hugged his left forearm. And then, as if by some cue that only six-year-olds sense, they both released and ran off to position themselves at a distance.

"Now, spin," Naruto instructed. Itachi opened his mouth.

"Twenty times," Sasuke added.

"Wasn't Naruto 'it' before?" Itachi threw out quickly before he could be interrupted again.

"Yes, but that was _before_," Sasuke emphasized, and Naruto nodded agreeably. Itachi opened his mouth, then closed it. To six-year-olds, six-year-old logic was superior to ten-year-old Jounin logic. Itachi rolled his eyes, closed them, and began to spin.

By the time he finished, he made a mental note to add this to his training regiment. If he could learn how to function while this dizzy, it would be beneficial in the field eventually. Returning his mind to the issue at hand, he tried not to stumble, and managed to stop his body from moving, albeit a little unsteadily. He listened - Naruto's heavier steps could be heard off to his right, with Sasuke's quicker, shorter, lighter strides passing somewhere in front of him towards the blond. With his eyes closed, his depth perception was shot, and despite his training and his own regiment that included blind-fighting, he felt severely out of his element as he turned his head a little to his left, pretending to be mistaken.

"Marco," he said, feeling uncertain but not showing it in his body language or tone. He figured Sasuke knew, though.

"Polo," two voices called out, and there was a distinct echo, making this either a very bad place to play this particular game or a very good one - for Itachi, right then, very bad.

He repeated his part of the call, and turned towards them, slowly walking over. Both boys froze, and then there were two much quieter and less distinct footfalls leading slightly away from each other. He was impressed - they were pretty smart for six-year-olds - but Naruto's pace was very odd, with a heavy gait and decided, firm steps, while Sasuke's was uniquely precise and purposeful. Despite the fact that their controlled steps were less distinct from each other, they could still be told apart by a skilled ear. Sasuke was heading to his right, Naruto to his left. Inwardly, he smirked. They would both be within arm's reach...

Abruptly, he jolted forward, wrapping one arm around Sasuke and lunging to grab Naruto by the arm. He was successful on both accounts, and opened his eyes with a small smile, peering at the two boys in his grip.

"Hey, you're supposed to get _one_ of us!"

"But this means I win," Itachi calmly stated. It didn't even make sense to _him_, but they had trumped him with their six-year-old logic, and two could play at that game. Naruto opened his mouth to protest, and paused.

"But...but-!" Sasuke stuttered, and pouted slightly, but Itachi knew both of them were going to burst out laughing...very...soon - now. Naruto's laughter bubbled over, and Sasuke began chuckling at first, then really laughing. He gave a bemused little smile. It seemed that his attempt at illogic had seemed perfectly reasonable to them.

Inwardly, he began to laugh.

* * *

Cake was a bad idea.

Naruto, with huge amounts of sugar in his system, was very nearly literally bouncing off the walls. Sasuke wasn't far behind, looking jittery. While it wasn't nearly as effective as, say, caffeine, it tasted better and it had quite an effect on six-year-olds.

It was at that particular moment that Itachi looked at the wall clock - by coincidence, really, but he noticed things, and he noticed here that it was getting late and his father would probably send a search and rescue to retrieve him from the black hole that had made him late. He had to be home soon, he was aware, and he blamed the sugar for loosening his tongue when he murmured, "I think it might be time for presents." Naruto heard him and metaphorically leapt on the remark like a dog with a bone.

"Presents! Yes! Please?" He turned with begging eyes to Kakashi, and the former ANBU captain sighed resignedly, nodding.

"Excellent! I shall retrieve the youthful gifts for you, Naruto-kun!" Gai proclaimed. He paused for a split second and Itachi thought he would make _another_ self-imposed challenge (_"And if I cannot carry them all in one trip, I shall carry my Eternal Rival to all his destinations for a week - no, a month!"_), but he did not, instead making for the kitchen where the presents had been set on the counter. He was back within a minute, and lifted the bags onto the table. Naruto _bounced_ - yes, literally bounced - into Gai's vacant seat. He had, at some point, been seated between the Uchiha brothers, but had restlessly begun pacing like a caged animal very shortly thereafter. Beaming, he pulled the nearest present towards him. It was a nice-looking yellow bag that Naruto tipped over to peer into. He smiled and pulled out a thick pair of black trousers, tan shorts, and two shirts - one red with a blue hem, the other as yellow as the boy's hair, if a little lighter - made of a very durable but breathable material. Naruto was beaming as he launched himself at Iruka, who was fortunately directly beside him - Itachi was sure that the blond would have flung himself across the table to hug Iruka had he needed to.

"It's for when you start at the Academy," Iruka explained warmly, smiling. "You'll need more equipment than that, but those will at least keep your regular clothes from getting torn apart."

Itachi didn't add that when you really became a ninja, your armor, your equipment, they _were_ your regular clothes. It was something that both his brother and Naruto would face in due time - hopefully, in a _long_ time. Itachi didn't want to see either of them on the field any time before they were in their late 20s and had lived normal life to its fullest, because normalcy was not something ninja would ever know.

Naruto made himself comfortable on Iruka's lap, much to the Itachi's amusement, and next pulled over a medium green bag. He tipped it slightly again, peering into it. His eyes widened and he beamed, setting the bag on its side. Iruka helped him pull out a pair of hefty-looking ankle weights. They were bigger than the boy's hands; Naruto couldn't even get a grip to hold them up. Itachi was mostly wondering when Gai had the chance to put together a present - he hadn't been with them on the shopping...ah, experience.

The beaming boy thanked Gai very loudly, and multiple times, and the man energetically explained the virtues of old-fashion weights and that those were the first ones he'd ever trained with. As soon as it was over (it was one of the shorter speeches of the day), Naruto grabbed a third present: a box, wrapped in dark, dark blue wrapping paper with a simple white tag attached to it that Itachi didn't need to see. Naruto ripped into it after peering at the tag, discovering a brown box; within the box, he gaped at the assortment of training weapons.

Naruto gaped. Itachi felt satisfied.

"_Cool!_" Sasuke declared under his breath.

Kakashi leaned over and picked up one of the practice kunai, staring at the finely-crafted almost-weapon critically. He checked the balance, the weight, the shape, and the surface - all perfect, unflawed and unmarred. He returned it to the box. "They're fine training weapons," he determined quietly, softly.

The slow smile that spread over Naruto's face told of his joy wordlessly. Iruka murmured something, and suddenly a six-year-old ball of sunshine had leaped into Itachi's lap. The Jounin, needless to say, was shocked - and when he _did_ recover from the shock of having a small child launch himself at him like that, he found that Naruto was quite content to stay there, already pulling the last present closer to him. He peeked into the white bag, and his expression became one of confusion - even Itachi, from his awkward angle, could see it. Sasuke tilted his head, curious, as the blond reached into the bag and pulled out a Post-It note.

"It says, 'IOU,'" Itachi murmured, very nearly inaudible if one wasn't Naruto, as the boy tilted his head and squinted. The confusion cleared up and he straightened up and beamed brightly.

"Thank you very much!" he intoned warmly, sweetly, and it took effort not to speak freely, as he might have had it only been him, his brother, and this small boy who held him in such high regard.

* * *

Sasuke was _out._

The boy had fallen asleep as Itachi carried him - at first, he had made the child walk, but it was clear that it wouldn't last when his weight began to be put mostly on Itachi's hand rather than on his own two feet. It had taken _maybe_ five minutes for him to pass out and Itachi was glad - it made sneaking in that much easier. Fugaku would not appreciate his absence, but a sleeping Sasuke would soften him, and Itachi was very hopeful that if he explained quietly, right outside his door, the terrible reaction his father was sure to have wouldn't wake the whole compound. Despite his tough-as-nails, sharp-as-kunai attitude, the man was overly tender (whether he showed it or not) to his younger son. He would not disturb Sasuke's sleep, and would probably release Itachi early to avoid doing so.

Itachi felt a little guilty, like he was _using_ his brother, but he knew that it wasn't quite true. If he went to Fugaku's office, the man would doubtless have such bursting chakra (Uchiha were not loud in the literal sense - their chakra tended to say more than words) that the entire compound, children included, would be startled into wakefulness and not know why.

He turned left at the gate and broke into a slow jog. Fugaku would be on him like a nindog, doubtless with flickering and flaring chakra. He didn't want to make a scene - that would be _bad_. It would be better to bring Sasuke to his room for a little while, he decided - the boy slept better in his brother's room than in his own room, anyway, and it was a comfort to Itachi to have him so near. It often kept him up all night, though.

He would never forget hearing about Kumo's attempt to kidnap the Hyuuga heiress - they would have taken her, studied her, treated her like an _animal_ more than anything and make her marry and give children who possessed her Kekkei Genkei. His heart shuddered and he swore never to let that happen to his little brother. It was a constant, slightly irrational worry - but he was a shinobi. He knew that one was never truly safe, neither under the guard of his teammates nor in his own bed in a secure ninja village. There was always danger, lurking and waiting.

His door was cracked open, and he released one hand from Sasuke in order to carefully make the small gap larger. It rolled halfway into the wall; he slipped through the opening and closed it quietly. He went to his bed and carefully removed the unconscious Sasuke from his back, laying him very gently on the futon. It was a low bed with a thin but fairly comfortable mattress on it; Sasuke stirred, rolled onto his side, settled into the soft pillow, and slipped back into deep sleep. Itachi let out his breath.

There was a presence at the door. Slowly, Itachi turned and went to it, prepared to face his doom.

* * *

"'kashi-niichan?"

The little blond grasped his toy fox under one arm, scrambling up onto the grown-up bed. He crawled towards the ninja, who rolled over, the sheet pulled halfway over his face.

"Hmm?" They had gotten back _late_ and Kakashi had fallen asleep quite a while ago. Naruto looked at the red numbers on the clock and thought it looked like it said "2:13". Somehow, grown-ups always got tired - he didn't understand it. He always had energy at night. Not much in the early morning, though. Peering at the silver-haired jounin, he whispered his question:

"Can I sleep here tonight?"

Kakashi seemed a little puzzled. Naruto didn't know why - he usually slept all the way on the other side of the room. Whatever. Grown-ups were weird. Finally, the exhausted, confused young man just nodded. and rolled over. Naruto flopped down and curled up, gripping the fox close to him.

"'kashi-niichan?" This time, Kakashi just groaned and turned his head a little. Naruto frowned in confusion. "What does IOU mean?"

"Means I'm gonna give you your present another time," the teenager muttered, turning back towards the wall. Naruto pondered that, wondering what his present would be. A really nice kunai holster? Candy? A trip to somewhere special? A week of nothing but ramen?

"'kashi-niichan?" The teen said nothing, just inclined his head slightly. "What's my present gonna be?"

"You'll find out. Now go to _sleep_, Naruto." His head hit the pillow with a dull thud, and Naruto lay in silence for a while, other questions whirling in his mind, before exhaustion caught up with him, and he quietly and uneventfully fell asleep.

* * *

**A/N: **Our hit counter is now **OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAND!** as of chapter 6. Celebrate! *dances*

So hi. This was a very short and slightly pointless chapter, but the next one more than makes up for it.

Anyhow, no, Naruto doesn't really remember Kakashi not being around - and, if he does, dismisses it as absence because of a mission or something, as he's used to that.

Previous chapters are undergoing editing. Why? Itachi. His stupid confusing milestone ages (i.e. ranking ages) are so close together and I haven't checked LeafNinja until now. Stupid, stupid, stupid Nitro. x.x So yeah, don't freak out if you see discrepancies regarding that. It's just Nitro's occasional Idiot Moments showing. From what I've edited so far, it doesn't look so bad because I haven't been using ranks very much to refer to Itachi until now. Chapter 3 needs major modifications, though.

Now, **let me know what you think!** Your suggestions _do_ make a difference! Also, let me know if I make a mistake (such as incorrect information or effect vs. affect or lay vs. lie - those are two of the few grammar things that I have trouble remembering). Let's shoot for 10 reviews. The highest I've gotten is 7, and considering this story is on alert for 67 people...well...yeah. I won't hold the next chapter hostage, though.

Ugh. I need a beta. -.- Or at least a more patient brother.

- Nitro

**Upcoming!** Naruto and Sasuke finally go to the Academy! Uchiha Mikoto! The warning signs of insanity! Over-use of exclamation points! Wait...maybe not that last one. Angst, drama, humor, mystery, and fuzzy-wuzzy friendships, all in the next chapter!


	9. Chapter 8: Ninja Academics

**A/N:** As a sidenote, I make a point of _not_ writing omniscient third person. That means that when it's Naruto's (kind of) point of view and it says something about, say, Kakashi looking irritated, this does not mean that Kakashi _is_ irritated. I also write according to the mentality of the current character. If I'm writing Naruto or Sasuke, it's going to sound like something a six-year-old would say in a lot of places. That appears especially in this chapter. Sasuke will also be more adept to recognizing Itachi's moods, whereas Naruto is fairly unobservant of these things. That's important to understand about my writing style.

Now...continue!

* * *

**Chapter 8 - Ninja Academics**

A distinct shuffling and the stirring of chakra jolted Kakashi from sound sleep. His normal eye opened and focused on the ceiling, turning to take in every aspect of the room that it could from this particular angle. Having been trained for years as an ANBU and still strictly holding himself to a similar regiment, he functioned almost automatically.

He "felt" his surroundings for chakra signatures, recalling the comparison his Academy teacher made; equating it to a blind man feeling Braille. He switched from cautious ANBU-mode to concerned brother-mode as the familiar, fluctuating chakra registered in his mind to be that of his charge. He felt for any other unfamiliar chakra presence and found none near enough to be a threat. He sat up hastily, opening his Sharingan eye. His vision seemed to split; he closed his normal eye and focused on Naruto.

The boy's chakra was speeding and slowing with increasing instability; if he kept it up, he'd draw every shinobi within a ten mile radius to the apartment in minutes. Feeling a sense of urgency that was completely unrelated to the political and public disaster that such a scenario would be, he stood and rushed over to the blond, gently placing a hand on his shoulder and switching eyes again. Naruto didn't so much as twitch while Kakashi knelt over him, gently trying to offer something _real_.

"Naruto," he said in a low, quiet voice after the boy's chakra flow continued to fluctuate abruptly despite his gentle touch. "_Naruto!_" Seeming not to hear the volume and the concerned undertones of his voice, his charge remained unmoved. Rather, his chakra suddenly sped up as his heart did, a sign of fear, panic, or anger. Clenching his jaw, Kakashi gripped his upper arm and shook him sharply.

Blue eyes snapped open, glinting like the edge of a blade, and locked on Kakashi's visible eye; then the boy relaxed, his chakra regulating itself as he calmed down. There was a pause as the blond looked at the wall, and Kakashi frowned, processing as his mind _really_ woke up that this was the fifth nightmare this week.

Naruto scooted over a little, still seeming somewhat upset by his unpleasant experience. The Jounin sat lightly on the edge of the bed, feeling awkward suddenly. He'd _never_ been good with heavy emotions, or even the lighter ones, and even with the boy who had established an indefinite residence in Kakashi's home and life, who had become as much a fixture for the teenager as said teenager was for him, he _still_ felt uncomfortable.

Thankfully, Naruto never seemed to mind.

Rather than speaking, the boy scooted down and closer to Kakashi, curling up and resting his chin on the soft material of the teen's nightwear - specifically, on his leg. The little blond seemed to be looking outside - curiously, perhaps concernedly. Kakashi glanced out the window.

"Do you see anything out of the ordinary?" he asked, softly. He wondered if Naruto would see the flicker of movement in the black shadow of a neighboring building; doubtless, an ANBU on patrol, checking the source of the abnormal chakra fluctuation.

"Um..." He evidently did not. "Yes...?" Kakashi smiled.

"What do you hear?" Naruto shifted a little, as if to listen better. Kakashi shivered a little - January nights tended to be cold. In the long silence that followed Kakashi began to wonder if Naruto would ever speak at all. Suddenly, the boy's eyes narrowed, like he was squinting at something in the distance.

"That stupid clock downstairs," Naruto told him. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. He couldn't even hear it from the top of the stairs; their wall clock hung in the kitchen over the trashcan, and while the clock ticked rather loudly, he definitely couldn't hear it from the upstairs bedroom.

"Well, go to sleep, anyway," was the response that Kakashi ultimately settled on, unsure what to do with that piece of information. The boy pouted a little but lifted his head and scooted back to his pillow on the small bed. Kakashi stood, feeling somewhat uncertain despite the many encounters he'd had with nights like these; where Naruto slept through some horror that he knew in his gut no young boy should see, let alone experience on his own and in full, screaming as loudly as he could without opening his mouth. Despite his discomfort, he smiled down at the boy, his face unseen in the dark room, and rested a gentle hand on the blond hair that _glowed_ in the otherwise shadowy corner. He refrained from flinching at the faint dampness near the roots, and the cold on the boy's skin, a literal cold sweat. Naruto smiled up at him, breaking the former pout with warm cheer.

"G'night!"

"Goodnight." The Jounin returned to his bed and glanced at the clock. 3:48 in the morning. "Happy new year," he added in a whisper.

* * *

"A-ni-ki!"

Sasuke drew out each syllable significantly, bursting into the room with a wide grin. Itachi looked up - not the least bit startled - at the six-year-old who had just blatantly and uncaringly invaded his privacy and sanctum from the rest of the world, and leaned back in the chair he was sitting in, reading a book by his window. Sasuke didn't care one bit, bounding to stand by his favorite (that is, only) big brother, holding himself so stiffly-postured that he almost looked like he was at attention.

"Yes, Sasuke?" Itachi finally acknowledged and Sasuke wanted to pout at the laid-back, nonchalant manner in which the words were spoken. Didn't his brother _know?_ Well, whatever. Itachi, while the awesomest brother in the world, was weird sometimes.

"Happy New Year!" the boy declared, gazing up at the pre-teen excitedly. "We have to celebrate!" Itachi gazed down at him, seeming unmoved. "We have to celebrate _now_ before it's not New Year's Day anymore!" he rattled on, but no enthusiasm appeared at all in his brother's mannerisms. It seemed that the 'Awesomest Brother Ever' was having one of his weird moments.

"Sasuke, you're supposed to celebrate New Year's at midnight," the older boy explained, and Sasuke frowned.

"That's stupid! We have to wait until really late tonight?" the six-year-old almost whined. Itachi seemed a little down, too.

"That's not-" The ten-year-old paused, then sighed and nodded. "Yes, we have to wait until tonight." Sasuke changed gears, adopting a determined expression.

"Well, that gives us all day to get ready!" the boy decided, Itachi glanced over his shoulder out the window.

"How about," the older brother started, Sasuke looking at him attentively, "you play with Naruto at the park while Shisui-niisan and I prepare things to celebrate?" The little boy frowned as if in thought, then nodded once decidedly, almost as if to affirm his decision to himself.

"Okay," he started, then added, "but then Naruto has to come too!" Itachi seemed to consider for a moment, then nodded slightly, not as vigorously as Sasuke had, in agreement.

"Now, go get dressed and eat breakfast." Sasuke spun to do so, and Itachi quickly added, "Wear play clothes, not nice clothes, and bring your jacket." The six-year-old rolled his eyes a little at his brother's mothering.

Even a _five-year-old_ knew _that_.

* * *

"Naruto!" Sasuke called, waving his free hand vigorously while his other one loosened its grip on Itachi's shirt a little. Said blond's head jerked up, shifting left and right slightly before spotting the two figures approaching up the road a little way. Sasuke was about to leave Itachi's side and venture into the unknown of having no one with him, but his brother gripped his wrist lightly. Sasuke looked at the hand holding him and then up at his brother. Itachi sighed, mentally bracing himself if Sasuke injured himself. Protectiveness was not abnormal...

Unless taken to the extent Itachi took it to.

The Jounin looked down at his charge - one that would never be out of his responsibility, no matter their age and location - and sighed. "Be careful," he said; anyone else might have mistaken his tone for total lack of emotion. Sasuke, _not_ being anyone else, pouted a little but nodded, recognizing the vaguest amount of affection in his brother's voice and expression. Itachi released his wrist, and the boy took off at a light run, leaping up the steps and meeting his friend in front of the slide. Naruto was beaming.

"Let's play in the sandbox!" the blond instantly suggested. Sasuke's face lit up. He _loved_ the sandbox.

Faintly amused, Itachi took his sweet time making it over to the bench where the teenaged ex-ANBU captain who was many years his senior was sitting on a bench, reading a book. From where he stood flanking the Copy-Nin's left, he could see a few words of it. The arrangement of characters that caught his eye was one that he wasn't familiar with reading, but heard all too often nowadays. He might've looked closer had the silver-haired Jounin not snapped the book closed and set it on his lap.

"I can make other arrangements if you would prefer, Hatake-san," Itachi offered. Kakashi shook his head.

"It's fine. Naruto likes to play with him; anyway, Sasuke keeps him from getting too bored." Itachi almost pointed out that it was the other way around, too, but that was slightly irrelevant, so he held his peace.

"Thank you, Hatake-san," he replied instead, feeling like he ought to wait for the former ANBU captain to dismiss him. Realizing he wouldn't, the young Jounin turned and walked away, his mind straying back to the word he'd seen on the page.

_Stranger things have happened,_ he decided, and shook it off in favor of paying attention to his surroundings.

* * *

When one is a shinobi, one does not sleep, eat or breathe without thinking of those who cannot.

It wasn't always conscious - sometimes it was the metallic scent in the air, a dusty taste to the food, the times when wakefulness comes with a jolt and a cold sweat, the sound of screams and blades cutting flesh and the ring of chakra echoing down through the shadowed caverns of one's mind into which no man dares to go for fear of the demons that lurk within.

It was always worst not after the kill, but before.

Before was the time when it could be prevented, before was the time when it _mattered_. Before was the time when a little humanity could be restored to one's heart - so eaten away by the blood that spilled and soaked through clothes and flesh, seeping deeper and deeper, into the very fibre of the soul.

Afterward, any shinobi who had someone to care for felt hollow and wretched and lay awake at night, sneaking to that person's side to watch over them, sitting catatonic in the shadows cast by steely moonlight with unfocused eyes, seeing things that weren't really there...

Or, so Itachi supposed, anyway.

He knew that _he_, for one, had an on-again-off-again relationship with insomnia, and it wasn't working out very well right now.

With Sasuke under Hatake Kakashi's watch, the Uchiha felt comfortable enough to rest for a while. Sitting in the most uncomfortable chair in the world, in Shisui's home on the compound grounds he closed his eyes. Being an experienced ninja, he'd learned to fall asleep instantaneously and take what he could get. As such, darkness fell on his eyes and ears immediately. Metaphorical darkness, of course; the kind that blocked sight from inside of the eyes and muffled the distant, blurry sounds that tried to penetrate the thick, oily blackness. He felt a little like he was drifting in a lake of fog. Immediately this called to mind a memory of passing through a low, low valley where the fog seemed to roll and heap on itself, shifting and stirring in lazy wisps where his teammates had gone ahead of him.

Feeling a little irrational in his sleep-state (really, it was closer to meditation than anything else, but he was less aware of his surroundings and more aware of himself), he swam through the darkness, thoughts drifting - first towards the Academy, wondering how Sasuke (_And Naruto,_ he murmured into the muffling blackness) would do. Then he worried a little, felt it swell up through the blackness, and he felt disquieted.

Going to the Academy meant Sasuke was bound for the path of a shinobi.

He decided to change the topic of thought, latching on to the first thought that drifted by him in the darkness.

_I wonder how I'll die._

A morbid subject, he knew, but something that wasn't uncommon for a shinobi to consider - or so he supposed.

_Probably at the hands of an enemy ninja,_ he rambled; _maybe I'll make it to ANBU first._ Few ninja did. War weeded out anyone who was less than elite. Itachi had watched it happen.

He realized by distant use of some physical sense that there was movement near him, and all his experience screamed for him to wake up _now_. His dark eyes opened, almost as if he'd never been asleep, and fourteen-year-old Shisui peered at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Itachi, not that I'm not glad to see you, but how did you get into my house?" Itachi straightened up in the Really Uncomfortable Chair.

"I walked in," he said, and he might have been mistaken for being serious for how unemotional his tone was.

"No! I thought you _flew_!" the young teenager sarcastically intoned, rolling his eyes in a way that did not detract from the good-natured smirk he wore. Letting go of the question for now, he moved on. "Might I ask _why_ you are here?"

"You might."

Shisui twitched.

* * *

"No _way_!" Naruto exclaimed as quietly as a six-year-old was able - which is to say, not particularly quietly, since it was intended to be a whisper. Sasuke just nodded.

"Uh-huh! Mom was _so_ mad!" There was a pause and then Naruto grinned.

"Someone _really_ put pink dye in your mom's shampoo?" Sasuke snickered.

"She looked _so funny!_ Aniki told me it was Shi-Shi. Mom chased him around with her frying pan."

Naruto opened his mouth, ready to ask if she'd gotten it out, but his mind did a double-take that might have been comical had it been a physical action. "Shi-Shi?" His eyebrows pinched together in confusion, one slightly raised and the other slightly lowered as if he wasn't sure what to make of the name.

"Our cousin," Sasuke amended. "He's really funny! He loves to pull pranks on Mom and Uncle Ryou." The black-haired boy grinned and plucked at the grass they were sprawled out on. Both were on their stomachs, propped on their elbows, and facing each other. The Uchiha tilted back his head to examine the sky and rolled over, spreading his arms wide as if to engulf the whole world. Naruto mimicked him, looking pensive.

"You sure have a lot of family," he remarked off-handedly. Sasuke hummed in agreement; after a moment, Naruto heard shuffling. He tilted back his head, straining his neck a little, to glimpse what his friend was doing, only to find black eyes staring back from the other boy who was in a similar position.

"I was just thinking," Sasuke started, then seemed to hesitate. Naruto tilted his head curiously. It wasn't like Sasuke to hesitate to share his thoughts, not after this long eternity of a few months of friendship. They may as well have shared a head for all they shared their thoughts with each other. "I was wondering if you asked Hatake-san about your parents," he finished, eyes searching Naruto's uncertainly. Naruto, for his part, wasn't sure why; it wasn't like something really horribly terrible had happened and his parents had died, or worse, abandoned him and his brother to fend for themselves. In fact, he really didn't know who or where his parents were; he had Kakashi, and that was enough for him.

"I haven't thought about it much since the birthday party," he admitted, and it felt a little odd to stretch his memory that far, like it wasn't ancient history but it was so _long_ ago, too.

"You should ask," Sasuke decided, not seeming quite so hesitant now that he'd gotten past the question. Naruto frowned a little.

"I dunno..." He trailed off.

"Why?" The Uchiha sounded confused. "I would wanna know who my parents are if it were just Aniki taking care of me."

"Well, _I_ don't," Naruto retorted, feeling irrationally upset. Sasuke seemed to recoil at the sharpness in his tone, making him feel a little bad; he softened his expression. "I just...I have 'kashi-niichan, and I don't need anyone else." Sasuke still looked like he didn't really understand, and of course he couldn't; he'd never felt the _loneliness_...

_But I'm not lonely!_ he screamed in his head, hearing it echo back at him as a whisper. He wasn't _alone!_ He had 'kashi, and 'tachi, and Sasuke, and Iruka-niisan, and Uncle Asuma, and Fuzzy Brows. He wasn't _alone_, not usually.

He _wasn't_.

"Okay," Sasuke said after they had drifted into silence. It was a soft tone he spoke in, a quiet one, but not a whisper. Naruto nodded.

They sat for a little while, and Naruto began to wonder what time it was. He looked at the sky, and his searching eyes found the sun on the horizon, suspended over flatlands to the west.

"Hey," Sasuke suddenly said, and the blond turned to him. He was grinning. "It's New Years. Me and Aniki are gonna celebrate. Do you wanna come over?" Naruto blinked, then grinned.

"Yeah!" Then he added as an afterthought, "But I gotta ask 'kashi-niichan first."

"Well, as long as you're there before midnight!" Sasuke said. "Aniki says that's when you celebrate New Years. I don't get it, but he said he and Shi-Shi would be getting it ready." Naruto nodded happily.

"I'll ask to sleep over at your house tonight," he decided. Sasuke's eyes lit up.

"That'd be so much fun! Aniki can stay up all night with us and we can watch scary movies and play Shinobi Gambit (1) and stuff!" Naruto beamed, nodding his head rapidly.

* * *

Itachi wondered exasperatedly just _how_ he'd gotten roped into this.

"Niisan! Let's play again!" Itachi wondered if it had been Sasuke who told the blond boy to address him as that, or if Naruto had come to that decision on his own. Nevertheless, it was odd to hear, although not unpleasant - or even unfamiliar. Until he was about four, Naruto had always referred to him as "Itachi-oniisan," but the times they saw each other were few and far between, and it eventually tapered off.

He looked at the whisker-marked boy who had so easily taken to the affectionate term, then at the wall clock. It was barely nine. They had been here for two hours. Towards evening an icy cold had set in, far colder than the brisk late-fall, early-winter chill. For the two children to remain at the park in such weather would have been unwise; Kakashi had decided to leave for the night, and Naruto had _begged_ him to stay the night at the Uchiha house. Kakashi had, although reluctantly, agreed.

Naruto had been _extremely_ difficult to sneak onto the compound. With monstrous chakra for a six-year-old, it was almost definite that if anything upset him within the compound walls, every ninja on the premises would immediately be alerted to his presence. Luckily for them, the clan head had left for Kumo that morning to serve as a temporary ambassador after the death of their most recent one. Uchiha Mikoto, being the kind woman she was, was gracious about the boy coming over, and spent the day preparing snacks of all kinds. She had been amused when he told her of Sasuke's misconception of the New Years celebration, and had laughed outright when he admitted that he'd agreed to celebrate that night. Being less strict than Fugaku, she had decided to overlook Sasuke staying up into the middle of the night, allowing the young boys to partake in a belated celebration.

Drawing out of his thought process, Itachi nodded slightly, rearranging the pieces of Shinobi Gambit.

"I still think you cheated," Naruto said in a good-natured grumble, the comment directed towards Shisui, who was grinning widely. His face twisted into a glare that was a little sharper than such a comment would generally call for. Itachi stiffened and set his eyes firmly on his fellow Uchiha. Feeling the bore of the Jounin's gaze, Shisui turned his own eyes down on the corner of the board, as if it were to blame. The 10-year-old returned to arranging pieces.

Even with the matriarch's approval, Itachi knew better than to think that much of the clan would appreciate having Naruto inside the compound. Clearly, despite his statement to the contrary after Itachi had explained the situation, Shisui was among them, and the Jounin felt a little betrayed. Naruto, for his part, didn't seem to notice the fierce animosity; Sasuke was "sneaking" out to retrieve left-over snacks that his mother had made a point to "forget" about and leave out on their low table, within easy reach of a six-year-old, so he wasn't even present to notice.

A moment later, the littlest Uchiha appeared, carrying two caramel apples in either of his hands. Naruto beamed and swiped one of them as Sasuke started to sit down, Shisui grabbing one as well. Sasuke's smile didn't falter at the thievery as he held one of the remaining two out to Itachi, who inwardly sighed before taking it. He liked caramel apples, but the caramel tended to stick in his teeth and it was uncomfortable and slightly embarrassing to get out. Nevertheless, he took a big bite, savoring the sweet and sour mingling in his mouth. Shisui and Naruto looked like they had died and gone to heaven, which almost made Itachi smile. Despite Shisui's (rather unreasonable) dislike of Naruto, the two were a lot alike in a lot of ways, moreso than Itachi had ever thought to consider. Both tended to be a little loud, a little odd, and while Naruto had yet to become a full-time prankster, the boy had the potential to be as much of one as Shisui.

In hindsight, putting them in the same room and giving them sugar was probably _not_ a good idea.

Nevertheless, Itachi shrugged it off and started their game. They had started the evening with fighting over who got to be what village; eventually, Itachi (who had been the only one not involved in the argument) handled Iwa while Naruto was Suna, Shisui was Konoha, and Sasuke was Kumo. Of course, the six-year-olds and Shisui had all wanted to be Konoha; ultimately it was decided that since Shisui was the oldest, he would get to be Konoha.

_The problem with that,_ thought Itachi, _is that "oldest" is not synonymous with "most mature."_ He sat back and leaned against the wall behind him as Shisui proceeded to dominate the round, grinning and laughing victoriously as the two six-year-olds whined and accused him of cheating.

* * *

Six-year-olds were cuter when asleep.

Of this, Itachi was quite certain. After the fifth (lost) game of Shinobi Gambit, Naruto and Sasuke had elected between them to watch a movie (and ultimately settled on _The Adventures of the Young Hokage_, which delighted them both to no end). When the main character, a superpowered twelve-year-old named Ryou - Sasuke had sleepily pointed out that his uncle shared the name - defeated the villain, an evil man named Iori who ruled a nonexistent Hidden Village, Sasuke fell asleep and Itachi made no move to wake him. Naruto drifted off soon after.

The problem was, they were both curled up on top of him.

Shisui went back to his own home right after. He'd been merciful and turned off the TV that Itachi had moved into his room for the night. Lying on his back on the small futon he had set up in the corner, with two small children preventing any movement, Itachi sighed. Naruto had lain down on his left side against the wall, resting his head on Itachi's shoulder, while Sasuke was curled up half on Itachi's stomach and half on Naruto's legs. His arm was beginning to feel like the circulation was cut off, and both of his legs were definitely asleep.

He stared out the window at the stars. Despite the odd angle, he could easily see the cloudless sky from where he lay, but little else. Nevertheless, he felt carefully and alertly for any disturbances in chakra. Feeling none, he relaxed a little, and -

That monstrous chakra beside him jolted.

Itachi twisted his neck to look at the spiky blond hair tickling his chin, momentarily surprised and uncertain what to do. For a single second, it seemed to calm, and then went in the opposite direction, the flow slowing until Itachi thought the chakra might dissipate altogether. He stared in shock as the sound of footsteps reached his ears and his mother opened the door a little, peering in.

"Itachi? What's going on?" She sounded cautious, and despite her years spent out of service, he knew that her feel for chakra signatures was still as sharp as it had been when she served as a Jounin.

"Naruto," he murmured, allowing his concern to show. He placed his free hand on the boy's arm and closed his eyes, feeling the fluctuating chakra - it felt of panic and fear so potent that it was upsetting his own chakra flow. Sasuke shifted, probably feeling it too, and Mikoto seemed reluctant to move any closer, doubtless feeling it worse than either of her sons. She started to step into the room.

"It's probably a nightmare," she told him softly, then considered. "You should wake him up. I would stay here, but if he wakes up and panics, it'll probably be better if no one unfamiliar to him is in the room." The chakra jolted unevenly again, and his mother stepped back, looking at the boy with sad eyes. Itachi turned back to the blond hair, the only part of Naruto he could really see, and shook the child gently.

"Naruto," he whispered. The boy's chakra flow didn't even out, although Itachi heard him inhale sharply, and realized that his breathing had been oddly even before, despite the signs of a nightmare. Naruto shifted a little and looked up at Itachi. They locked eyes, and Naruto took a moment to focus on him, then looked around, the unfamiliar surroundings not registering at that moment and seeming to only add to his fear. The Jounin added helpfully, "You were having a nightmare." There was a pause, and the chakra flow slowed so abruptly that Itachi worried it might continue to fall past normal again. It didn't. Evidently, Naruto had recognized his voice.

"I'm sorry," the blond whispered back earnestly. Itachi frowned slightly.

"It's not your fault," he dismissed, but Naruto looked guilty.

"I woke you up."

_...That's why he's sorry?_

"No, you did not," he explained patiently. "I was not asleep." Naruto lifted himself a little, looking down at the weight on his legs. Itachi felt a little awkward. After having a nightmare, Sasuke usually sought comfort in his brother, but this did not mean that the Jounin ever felt comfortable dealing with it. He awkwardly moved his half-asleep left arm pull the boy back down. "Sasuke was not disturbed either," he told him, understanding the concern, and then lied, "No one was." It was likely that Mikoto was the only one who had actually woken up, or at least the ideal hope. Naruto, relieved to hear this, rested his head on Itachi's chest and curled a little closer, or, as some would say, _snuggled_.

Snuggling was not something Itachi was familiar with. Being used as a pillow/bed/mode of transportation, yes; but snuggling, no.

He hesitated for a moment, then slowly moved his hand to rest on the boy's arm in what he hoped was a comforting manner. It usually helped Sasuke calm down after a particularly bad nightmare. Naruto didn't seem to care one way or the other, content to rest with the Uchiha brothers. Itachi looked at the ceiling, uncomfortable and feeling bad for the Hatake.

"Naruto..." He stopped, and the blond shifted his head a little.

"Huh?"

"What happened in your nightmare?" Itachi felt the boy stiffen in his grip, and his chakra speed up slightly. He frowned, feeling guilty for making the boy relive it.

"Nothing," came a little too quickly. "Just a normal nightmare." _There's no such thing._

"Naruto." His voice was almost stern this time, and he felt Naruto's jaw move against his chest, probably opening a little.

"Well..." The blond laughed uncomfortably. "It wasn't even that scary. I'm probably just bein' a wimp." Itachi made a point to give an Unimpressed Look, despite the fact that the boy couldn't see it. He seemed to sense it anyway. "It...it was dark," he continued more softly. The Jounin was sharply reminded of his own dream experiences. "I was just..._scared_." Now the words were whispered shakily, and the child snuggled closer to him if it were possible. "And lonely, really lonely. Then it looked kinda like someone had opened a door...but no one was standing where the light was. There was talking, though. It told me that everyone was dead. _Everyone_ - 'kashi-niichan, the Old Man, Iruka-niisan, Uncle Asuma, Fuzzy Brows...you and Sasuke..." The list ended there, and Itachi bitterly realized that they were the extent of the people who were close to Naruto. "Then it got dark again and it felt like somebody was hurting me really badly." The six-year-old stopped, and when it seemed he wouldn't continue, Itachi spoke again.

"Does this happen..._frequently_, Naruto?"

"Freak-when-huh?"

"Does it happen a lot?"

"Um..." the blond considered. "I dunno. I never really think about it." Itachi felt him shrug awkwardly to go with the words, but it was enough for the Uchiha to gather that this wasn't the first time he'd faced such terrors.

"Well..." He paused, unsure how to continue, then decided, "Go to sleep. It's about four in the morning." Naruto shifted a little closer, shaking ever so slightly.

"'tachi-niisan?"

"Hm?"

"Please don't tell Kakashi-niichan," the little boy whispered into his chest. The Jounin said nothing for a moment.

"I won't," he finally said.

Sasuke sighed in his sleep, and Itachi, after a final look at Naruto, turned his gaze through the window again, ready to guard the two young ones from whatever threats he could protect them from.

For even in dreams, no one was safe.

* * *

_Three days later_  
"Naruto!"

Sasuke waved his hand, beaming warmly at the boy who stood at the bottom of the classroom, looking around, Kakashi at his side with his nose in a book. The Hatake brothers looked in his general direction, Naruto whipping his head around while his Jounin brother barely moved his eyes from the page. Grinning, the blond turned to the silver-haired teen.

"Have a good day; don't forget to pick me up; love you; bye!" the boy rattled off happily, he got the vague feeling that this should be the other way around. The Jounin just smiled under his mask.

"Ja ne," he answered, and disappeared in a dramatic puff of smoke. Naruto coughed and scowled, unimpressed, but his grin replaced itself as he turned back to his friend. He bounded up the steps to the bench that the Uchiha sat at, sliding into the seat beside him, and therefore into the middle.

"Aren't you excited?" Sasuke was practically glowing as he spoke. "This is gonna be great! We're gonna be ninja!"

"We're gonna be the _best_ ninja!" Naruto corrected, and Sasuke grinned agreeably.

"We'll be so great that they'll have to make us _both_ ANBU captains!"

They grinned together for a moment and then Naruto looked around, his expression becoming neutral, though leaning towards happy. He observed the students who had arrived; a few of them stuck out. First, there was a boy with red marks on his cheeks that was crouching on his desk, grinning at another boy with flat brown hair who was laughing. He saw a mildly chubby boy who was munching on chips and looking around, though he didn't seem very attentive; and a girl with short, dark hair that looked a little bluish, her eyes standing out the most, as they were a pale milky color with no pupil or notable change in shade.

"Good morning, class!" called a voice from the front, and Naruto turned to face forward. He was tempted to make a comment to Sasuke about their teacher's odd bluish hair, but before he could, he heard quiet talking by the door, which opened a moment later. Two young girls stepped in, one blushing lightly and the other beaming up at the class. The blushing one was the one that really caught his attention; she was small for a six-year-old, about Naruto's size, and had soft pink hair. Her clothes were a slightly darker shade of pink with white on them. The teacher smiled at them. "Please, have a seat," she told them warmly. The blond immediately waltzed up the nearest walkway to the door, sat down beside the quiet dark-haired girl, and introduced herself warmly. The pink-haired girl hesitantly made her way up the last set of steps, stopping beside Naruto.

Remembering himself, Naruto smiled beamingly at her. She smiled shyly back. "May...may I sit here?" she asked quietly, nervously brushing at her bangs. He nodded cheerfully.

"Sure!" She sat down, still looking shy, and Naruto decided to remedy this. "I'm Naruto. That's Sasuke." He pointed at the black-haired boy.

"M-my name's Haruno Sakura," the girl said sweetly, smiling at him. He beamed back.

"Nice to meet you, Sakura," Sasuke said kindly from his end of the bench.

"Alright, then; class, most of you remember me from last semester, but for anyone who doesn't, I'm Hiroko-sensei." The woman smiled kindly while Naruto tried to figure out what _"semester"_ meant. "Today is a half-day to get you kids used to being in school again; we'll be reviewing some of last semester's major lessons." While he still didn't know what it meant, he _did_ figure from that sentence that he was missing something. _How would we know what was studied last...whatever-she-said? We're all just starting!_ His brow furrowed in confusion, and he ducked his head slightly.

"Okay, how about I ask some questions..." That had not been a question. Hiroko looked around the room, then focused on someone. "Chouji!" Naruto twisted around to look at the chubby boy with chips, who looked like a deer in headlights. "What was the Yondaime Hokage best known for?"

"Um..." Chouji hesitated. "Being a Hokage?" he offered uncertainly. Naruto leaned forward and backward, feeling a little fidgety.

"He was known for that, but no," their sensei answered. "Let's see...Sakura?"

The girl beside him shrank into her seat a little. "The Yondaime Hokage was best known for...defeating and killing the Kyuubi no Kitsune?" It was only a little more sure than Chouji's answer.

"Correct!" Hiroko smiled. "What were some of his other well-known accomplishments? Touma (2)."

"The Yondaime Hokage won the Battle at Kohaku Bridge and was called the Yellow Flash for one of his signature jutsu..."

* * *

"Naruto."

The Hatake boy stared at the teacher, a little terrified of what she might ask him. Hiroko-sensei had neglected to call on him until now.

"Silly me!" she said, smiling. "Class, I forgot to introduce our newest student!" He felt complete and utter relief, going so far as to release his breath, perhaps a little dramatically. "Please, Naruto, come down here." The class was quietly buzzing with whispers as Sasuke slid out of his seat to let his friend down the narrow aisle between the benches and the wall. Feeling sick to his stomach and uncertain, Naruto slowly obeyed, coming to a halt in front of his new sensei and turning to face the class. "Why don't you tell us a little about yourself?" There was something new in her tone, something unlike the kindness and warmth she'd shown before. He swallowed and grinned at the class as a whole, settling his eyes on Sasuke in a desperate attempt to keep from feeling uncomfortable under the scrutiny of his whole class.

"I'm Hatake Naruto! I like ramen, my brother, my friends, and hanging out! I'm gonna be one of the best ninja _ever_!" he declared confidently, and Sasuke gave a small, encouraging smile.

And then whatever relief he felt died.

"Here, I want to ask you a question," his sensei said, still in that strange tone - _foreboding_ tone. "Then you can go back to your seat." Despite himself, Naruto nodded and looked up at her. "What is the term that ninja use to refer to the art of illusions?"

He might have panicked. _Not ninjutsu... Not taijutsu, that's like marshal arts and stuff...what was that other one? G-gin...no, that's not right..._

"_Gen_jutsu?" he asked more than said, and Hiroko nodded kindly.

"Correct! Very good! Okay, you can go back to your seat."

When he sat down, he felt his stomach still lurching. Sasuke leaned over to whisper to him, "Nice!" and then quickly straightened in case the teacher looked at them. Slowly, Naruto felt a little relief, until he managed to focus again on what was being said, fidgeting with the collar of his white shirt.

* * *

The half-day ended with a warm word from Hiroko-sensei, and the class was dismissed. Parents and siblings had already begun to arrive to pick up their children; others went out to play in the Academy training area. It was less of a training area and more of a playground, with high ropes and what amounted to monkey bars and all kinds of tunnels and a single, lonely swing off to the side.

"There's Aniki," Sasuke told him, pointing at his brother as he casually stepped through the door. "I'll see you later, Naruto. Okay?" Hardly waiting for a response, Sasuke bounded down the steps and up to his brother, halting in front of him to begin babbling about how great the first day had been. Naruto waved, feeling a little lost as the Uchiha brothers left the room. A few others came to escort their children home, until only five of the original class of twenty remained. Naruto peered around at his companions. Hiroko-sensei had disappeared somewhere; Sakura was still beside him, reading a little scroll; the boy with red marks on his cheeks, Chouji, and a sleepy-looking boy remained. The feral-looking boy was pacing across the length of the room, seeming a little impatient. He suddenly looked up and locked eyes with Naruto, who recoiled slightly.

"What're you lookin' at, Whiskers?"

_Whiskers._ A sharp reminder of his unusual birthmark. He'd never seen anyone else with remotely similar marks. He wondered if Kakashi had them - he had no recollection of seeing his brother's face at any given time, or at least, not with enough light to make out any unusual markings, except that barely-visible scar...

"Not at you, Mutt," Naruto answered, glaring. The boy seemed a little startled, but then he grinned a wolfish grin. Recognition seemed to lighten his expression from the wild look he'd had before.

"Hey, you're the new kid, right? The name's Inuzuka Kiba." _Inuzuka._ The name registered with vague familiarity, but nothing of great significance.

"Hatake Naruto!" The blond gave a thumbs-up. "Remember it!" Despite the slightly more playful attitude, Kiba jeered a little.

"Why should I?"

"'Cause I'm gonna be one of the best ninja ever!" burst out of his mouth, louder than he'd intended. The Inuzuka tilted his head at the outburst, looking for all the world like a dog. Then he grinned.

"Yeah? Well, I'll beat you any day of the week, Hatake!"

The tone turned playful again, although a little harsh, but Naruto figured that it was just Kiba's way. Naruto's eyes narrowed with his Cheshire Cat grin taking up most of his face.

"Then let's go, _Inuzuka_! Right here, right now!" Kiba laughed a barking laugh that reminded Naruto a little of Asuma, but with more ferality than lung obstruction.

"C'mon, then, _Runt_!"

"Right here" turned out to be more along the lines of "outside." since neither of them wanted to get in trouble. The sleepy boy (who had, of course, _slept_ through their loud banter) and the chip boy chose to remain in the classroom, while Sakura (he'd very nearly forgotten about her) trailed after him uncertainly. The training grounds turned out to have a few people still on the premises, so Kiba pointed out a clear patch of short grass, probably meant for sparring. Naruto knew from exploring that the Academy had other facilities inside and around the building, but this one was closest to the street that passed in front of the building, allowing for Kiba to keep an eye and ear open for his mother or sister, one of whom was supposed to pick him up - or so he explained.

Naruto got into a slight crouch while Kiba was practically on all fours, and they prepared to fight -

"W-wait," came the small, shy, uncertain voice of his pink-haired friend. Naruto turned to her, brow pinched in confusion and concern. "Y-you should have rules," she stated.

"Oh," was all Naruto could manage. It hadn't even occurred to him that their should be some restrictions to their fight. "No punches to the face?" he offered. He somehow doubted Kakashi would be happy if he got a black eye on his first day. Kiba nodded with a grimace, probably having similar thoughts.

"Nothing that could really cause damage," Sakura suggested, and Kiba's grimace deepened.

"That basically makes it kiddy-wrestling." Naruto frowned at that. He didn't want to _hurt_ Kiba but with that limitation, it left out proving anything.

"You could pull your punches," the Haruno amended, "but treat it like it's a real fight." Naruto hesitated. He sometimes had trouble being gentle when wrestling with Sasuke, but his friend had always been good-natured about it, sometimes not seeming to mind at all. He wasn't sure that Kiba would be so forgiving, though.

Nevertheless, Kiba was nodding agreeably, his brow still furrowed but seeming willing to accept the terms, so Naruto nodded, too.

"Okay, first one to pin the other for five seconds wins." Naruto nodded; that was similar to how he and Sasuke played, or they just kept on until they got tired (which didn't take very long), or Iruka, Itachi, or Kakashi stopped them.

"Go!" The sudden, bold, excited command from the pink-haired girl seemed very uncharacteristic, and Naruto's split second of surprise would have cost him a limb if he'd been in a real fight with a strong ninja. As it was, his legs were swept out from under him, and he saw Kiba coming from where he lay on his back, still shocked. He rolled almost automatically, the feral boy landing in a perfect position to have had him pinned.

To his credit, Kiba had a quick reaction time for a six-year-old. He turned on Naruto and struck out again, but this time, the whisker-marked boy was ready, going down on his knee the way Kakashi had taught him as Kiba tried to sweep at his legs again. Naruto reached out and grabbed the incoming leg, pulling it sharply.

_He's been trained,_ Naruto realized, seeing Kiba catch himself as his leg was released, landing on all fours and quickly moving out of the Hatake's reach. The wolfish boy spun and crouched again, this time more wary to be caught. The blond pushed off the ground, straightening up and falling back into his slight crouch. It felt somehow off, as if it were straining his muscles more than bracing them, but he dismissed it. The Inuzuka looked like he was going to fall back on the defensive from his position of about ten feet away, so Naruto charged as quickly as his little legs could carry him. Kiba -

"_Kiba!_"

- flinched at the abrupt voice from the road. Naruto was so shocked that, when he tried to skid to a stop, he slipped and landed hard on his left knee. Ignoring the dull pain now radiating from his limb, Naruto twisted around to face the woman. Kiba looked a lot like her, except she was older and a girl. She had the same markings as Kiba on her cheeks, wore a Jounin vest and Konoha hitai-ate, and had fairly long brunette hair that bristled out in spikes that reminded him a little of a wolf; and, speaking of which, she had a _huge_ black and white wolf-thing beside her whose shoulders came to her hip. The wolfish creature had an eyepatch over his left eye, and Naruto wasn't sure which of the two was scarier. He wanted to look and see Kiba's reaction, but was a little afraid to take his eyes off the two. The woman began to walk forward, through the gate of the chain-link fence that enclosed the front of the training ground, and towered over the three six-year-olds. The scary lady looked between the two boys.

"Come on. We're going home," she told Kiba firmly.

"Yes, Mom," the boy answered acceptingly. She looked at Naruto once more, and her hard face did not soften when she turned and began to walk away, her wolf at her side and her son scampering quickly after. Kiba glanced back once. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!" he boldly declared; Inuzuka-san glanced back sharply at her son and he quickly picked up the pace.

Naruto just waved and hoped he hadn't wet his pants. When they disappeared from view, he turned to Sakura, who looked completely and totally terrified as she looked at him.

"That lady was _scary_," he told her, having nothing any more obvious to say. She nodded.

And then he wondered why Kakashi was taking so long, and then wondered where Sakura's parents were, too.

"Say, where're your parents?" he asked, squinting a little in the bright afternoon sunlight. It had to be almost one in the afternoon.

"They didn't know it was a half-day," she told him softly.

"Oh," he drew out the sound, and she giggled as he nodded sagely. "Well, my brother's really forgetful too. He _had_ to know; he's a Jounin. I guess I get to wait with you!" She smiled at him.

"Thank you." He beamed and laughed happily.

"Come on; let's play tag! You're it!" He touched her shoulder lightly and took off at a run.

* * *

"Sakura!"

Both children turned towards the woman standing in the gateway, staring not at Sakura, but at Naruto. Sakura smiled and leaped up, bounding over to her mother.

"Mama! This is Naruto; he's really ni-"

"That's nice, dear. Come on, let's go home now," the woman rushed. Sakura frowned in confusion up at her mother, whose hair was a few shades darker than her own and whose face was set in a worried, upset frown. Sakura glanced back at her new friend; the Hatake boy was sitting up in the grass, looking startled and, above all, _sad_. Lonely, maybe. She felt her mother tugging her hand quickly along, and stared back at the dejected blond as he watched her go.

"'Bye, Naruto!" she cried, waving her free hand rapidly, and this only seemed to make her mother pull her along faster. That softened the look of desolation about the boy, and he waved back, smiling a weak, unconvincing smile. The grounds had long since emptied. Soon he disappeared from her view, and she turned back to her mother, feeling sad on his behalf.

"Mama, you should've talked to him! He's so nice! A little different, but nice." Her mother turned sharply.

"Sakura, you listen to me. Don't you ever play with that boy again, okay? He's a -" she paused here, her tone seeming to come just short of venomous. "He's a little different, like you said. You don't want to play with him, okay? (3)" Sakura frowned.

"But he's _nice_. He waited with me for you to get there. We played tag!" Her mother still frowned.

"Sakura, just...please don't, okay?" The woman paused as her daughter frowned and muttered an _"okay, Mom._" Processing the rest of the girl's statement, she asked, "What do you mean, 'waited with you'?"

"Oh, it was a half-day, so we finished school at eleven." Sakura's face lightened a little. "His brother was late to pick him up so he waited with me. He said he would've made his brother wait with us if he got there before you did." The girl felt a little bad now; she should've waited with him. He would've done it for her...

"Who is his brother?" asked her mama. The woman sounded a little puzzled.

"Umm, I dunno, but Naruto's family name is Hatake." The pink-haired adult blinked in shock. There were a few minutes of silence as Sakura began to hum and skip along beside her mother.

"Well...how was school?" the woman asked finally.

"It was great! Hiroko-sensei is always so nice..."

* * *

Paperwork.

_Paperwork._

And...you'll never guess...stupid, evil paperwork.

_I'm never going to become Hokage,_ Kakashi decided fiercely as he signed the last piece of paper, checking to make sure it was on the dotted line.

It had started at the beginning of summer, last year, when he'd tried to enrol Naruto in the Academy. The blond had been talking about it for _ages_. Technically, children had to be six to enter the Academy, but for those born after the start of the school year, there was an exception since they would have to wait between six months and a year to enlist at a point when they wouldn't be behind, and even in a ninja village that wasn't at war, there was no such thing as an early start.

It was when he'd applied and his form rejected that he had gone to the administration building of the school and been informed that he was not Naruto's legal guardian, only an assigned caretaker, and that he didn't have the authority to enlist Naruto, despite the boy's official name having been changed to Hatake Naruto. Since the boy was still technically a ward of the village, it was the responsibility of the village council to elect to send the boy to the school. Kakashi had gone immediately to the village administration building to file a request for the council to meet in regards to the care of a ward of the village.

And then it went to Hell in a handbasket.

The council had convened a month later, learned that it was Naruto, and debated fiercely over whether or not to send him to school. The Civil Council was made up of all the major and minor clan heads - Uchiha (with the matriarch serving in her husband's place), Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi were the six most prominent ninja clans. There were a few other, slightly lesser clans, including the Hatake, which might have been recognized had there actually been any other Hatake than Kakashi and, though not legally, Naruto. The Hatake were considered absent, and their vote would be automatically discounted due to personal involvement anyway.

There had been three yes and nine no votes.

The next month, Kakashi filed to legally adopt Hatake Naruto into the Hatake clan. While he couldn't adopt the boy as a son due to requirements not yet met (confirmed mental and emotional stability, steady income, age - he had to be 21 to adopt the boy, or have special permission - and a couple other things), he could take him into the clan in a broader sense, in that he would officially be considered a part of the Hatake clan and therefore, his care would fall under the authority of said clan (which is to say, Kakashi).

After about three months, the application had been approved.

He was applying the finishing touches only just now, but when he'd applied again, the Academy had been unable to find a loophole and had passed the application after about two more months; Naruto was to begin his schooling on Monday, January 4th.

Offering the application back to the woman behind the desk - he'd just finished applying for life insurance for himself, so that should he die, Naruto would come into possession of a considerable sum of money and would be cared for as needed, depending on his age and rank.

Paperwork was, to sum it up, _evil_.

There were downsides to this, as well. But he would rather not focus on those... With a slow sigh, Kakashi looked at the clock on the wall. It was 2 in the afternoon, and -

He was _so_ late.

The woman at the desk looked up, startled, as the mysterious silver-haired ninja who had just filed for life insurance disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

"You're late," was the flat statement that greeted him as the smoke cleared. Kakashi felt a little bad - he had intended to pick the boy up before lunch, and was now actually late.

"Sorry," he offered. "I had some paperwork to finish up." Which was true, but Naruto didn't know that. The boy laughed, leaping to his feet from where he'd been sitting on the grass.

"Can we get some lunch? I'm starved!" the blond eagerly requested, gazing up at his brother with shining blue eyes. Kakashi hummed noncommittally. "Please?" he begged, drawing out the word pleadingly. Finally, Kakashi nodded, smiling slightly when the boy leaped and pumped his arm happily. "Come on, let's go!" and the little blur raced past his caretaker and out the gate, heading down the road.

"Naruto." The blond stopped and turned, looking confused and impatient. "It's this way," the Jounin told him, pointing the other way. Naruto looked sheepish, turning fully to follow Kakashi up the way.

* * *

**1:** Shinobi Gambit = Risk. Yes, the game.

**2:** About Touma's name...I have a confession to make. I am completely obsessed with Digimon. Honestly. I generally watch the English version, but a lot of fanfics use the Japanese names. In the Japanese verson of 05, one of the major characters was named Touma. He's a genius, therefore explaining this Touma's smart-sounding answer. He may or may not ever appear again.

**3: **Tip of the hat to _The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas_. The movie made me cry.

**A/N:** Didn't I tell you it'd make up for chapter 7's shortness? Hope you enjoyed the fluff. Yes, I've been including a lot of Itachi... I can't help it. D: He's so fun to write!

Let me reiterate right now: **there will be no slash.** I say this because the fluff/angst between Naruto and Itachi came out in such a way that it could be interpreted as either slashy or familial, and _this is a family fic._

About the schooling system: Yeah, I screwed up. I didn't think about it until after I'd finished the Birthday Arc, and therefore I had to make a compromise. It actually makes more sense for Naruto to be unable to start on time, so yay for Nitro's screw-ups. (Also, if I confused anyone with that, feel free to ask and I'll explain to the best of my ability.)

I have to ask, was the "fight" scene okay? It's two six-year-olds, so of course they're not very skilled, but was the description comprehensive? I generally think I'm not great at fight scene descriptions, so any tips would be appreciated.

Shout-outs! To **MidniteCurse4Eternity**, who offered to beta as well as reviewed. (I still say school must come first.) To **wolfstarblade**, who beta'd this monster of a chapter, fixed tons of my silly mistakes, and is being epic in general right now. :D Both of you are awesomely win!

Please, please review. :( I only got ** three** reviews for chapter 7. Not kidding. Three. _Three_. Please? It makes my day to get reviews.

- Nitro

**Next time!** Teachers are mean! Parents are cruel! Secrets are kept! Hana is snarky! Coming soon (hopefully) to a computer near you!

**P.S.**

1: This chapter is over 9000 words. I kid you not. 2: Originally, the A/N was over two pages long. Needless to say, I downsized. 3: Re-read chapter 1 if you're one of my older readers. I rewrote it in early, early September. Chapter 2 is being revised. There will be no huge changes plot-wise, just some improvements in writing (that is, a _lot_ of improvements). Hope you like it. :)


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